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British scientists announce successor to ill-fated Beagle Mars probe
London (AFP) Nov 3, 2004 The British team behind the ill-fated Beagle 2 probe to Mars, which vanished without trace last December while attempting to land on the Red Planet, unveiled plans Wednesday for a possible successor mission. Under the proposal - thus far called "Beagle 2: Evolution" - two identical craft, broadly similar to the earlier craft, would attempt to land on Mars in 2009. Professor Colin Pillinger, lead scientist on Beagle 2, said that mission controllers would be able to analyse Mars's atmosphere before starting the landings, avoiding the risk of dust storms in the planet's atmosphere. "Landing must be the priority. You can never ever reduce the risk to zero but you can make it more likely that you will succeed," said Pillinger, from the Planetary and Space Science Institute of the Open University. "This will be a lot better then last time." Pillinger's team must now make a presentation to the European Space Agency (ESA) to get the idea accepted as part of a planned 2009 exploration mission. It was vital that the attempt was launched in 2009, the scientist said: "If we don't go by 2009, conditions after 2009 will get worse and you won't be able to go until a lot later." 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. The probe had been intended to search for evidence of life on Mars. 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 earlier report into Beagle's loss criticised severe organisational failures with the mission. On Tuesday, a committee of British lawmakers said in another report that the project failed because the country's government wanted a mission to Mars "on the cheap". Scientists are working on a series of changes to the Beagle design for the new landers, such as better solar panels, a powerful communications system allowing it direct contact with Earth rather than via an orbiter, and improved airbags to cushion the landing. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Beagle 2 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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