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Beagle 2 failure caused by incorrect theory

  • 09-03-2004 9:17am
    #1
    Sparks
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,038 ✭✭✭✭


    Well, there've been a few theories bouncing around for the last few months on why Beagle 2 failed to contact earth after landing, but this one's new and scientifically important because it adds data:

    http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994752
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3543295.stm
    The missing Beagle 2 lander may have crunched into the Martian dust after plummeting through an unexpectedly thin atmosphere.

    New measurements from the spacecraft's mothership, Mars Express, suggest the upper atmosphere can be far less dense than anyone thought. This could have been fatal for the lander because it relied on the atmosphere's braking effect to trigger the release of its parachute.

    If the main parachute opened too late, the probe would have the hit the ground too fast to survive. It may not even have had time to inflate the airbags intended to cushion its landing.

    Of course there are a lot of other theories, but like I said, this particular one is interesting because it shows a flaw in an extant theory.

    Another theory is interesting because it's dependant on data collected by Spirit.
    Other atmospheric factors being considered include turbulence. After NASA's rover Spirit landed it measured the temperature of the atmosphere in the kilometre above it.

    The temperature was fluctuating very rapidly - on a timescale of seconds. If the same thing was happening at the Beagle 2 landing site, the severe turbulence could, says Sims, have collapsed the parachute.

    And lastly, we have the third new theory of the day, that there was damage on Beagle 2 before it even seperated from Mars Express:
    Another line of investigation has been prompted by a picture of Beagle 2, snapped as it was ejected from Mars Express. The receding probe is half in shadow, but within the shadow there is a bright glint. This is cause for concern because the probe's surface should be smooth.

    "It may be nothing, it may be everything" said Sims. The object could be one of the explosive bolts used to secure the probe to its host during take-off. More worryingly, it could be something that broke off Beagle 2, or a wrinkle in the insulation wrapping the probe.

    Meanwhile, there's been a possible sighting of beagle 2 on the surface - or what's left of it:
    http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/2004-03-08-europe-beagle_x.htm

    Problem is that due to the hostile nature of the environment in Martian orbit, it could be just an artifact of the camera caused by cosmic rays or other radiation :(


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