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Britain's Beagle Mission To Mars Done 'On The Cheap': Inquiry
London (AFP) Nov 02, 2004 Beagle 2, the ill-fated British space probe that vanished while attempting to land on Mars, failed because the country's government wanted a mission to the Red Planet "on the cheap", a report by lawmakers said Tuesday. The committee of British MPs attacked the government for failing initially to pledge public money to the Beagle project, and, along with the European Space Agency (ESA), for not properly monitoring it. Although some government money was later committed, this was only after the Beagle organisers were forced to try and raise money through commercial sponsorship, the Science and Technology Committee said in its report. "ESA and the UK wanted a Mars lander on the cheap," said committee chairman Ian Gibson. "The DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) should have been on the pitch getting involved, rather than cheering from the touchline and coming on as a second half substitute when things went wrong. "As a result, the scientists had to go chasing celebrities for sponsorship when they might have been testing rockets." The tiny Beagle 2 lander, carried on the ESA Mars Express spacecraft, vanished shortly before it landed on the Red Planet on Christmas Day last year, and scientists are still not sure what went wrong. A six-month scientific investigation said in August that possible failures could have included electronic problems, a puncture on a cushioning gas bag, a failure of the craft to deploy its instruments, heat shield damage or even the craft landing in a crater. The probe had been due to flip open like a pocket watch after landing and make contact, but nothing was heard. In contrast, a pair of US probes sent to Mars around the same time landed perfectly and sent back streams of data. An initial report into Beagle's loss criticised severe organisational failures with the mission, which had been intended to search for evidence of life on Mars. The parliamentary report also condemned the mission structure, saying it was "extremely disappointing" that the British government, ESA and the Beagle 2 team did not cooperate fully. MPs noted that Beagle 2 was treated as a late "add-on" to Mars Express, and said that future missions should be properly funded from the start and managed as a single project. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
Spirit Heading To 'Home Plate'
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 09, 2006Last week Spirit completed robotic-arm work on "El Dorado." The rover used all three of its spectrometers plus the microscopic imager for readings over the New Year's weekend. |
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