ExoMars mission: Suspected failure of probe

[Pimander]

ExoMars mission: Schiaparelli robot probe doesn't send message to Earth as expected, potentially meaning it is lost

The Schiaparelli robot probe has not sent back a message it was expected to from the surface of Mars.

The problem could mean that the lander has been lost. If so, it would bring a tragic end to humanity's newest hopes of finding alien life on the planet.

But the European Space Agency warned against writing off the chances of finding the lander. There was still a decent chance that the lander might be heard from.



The Schiaparelli robot probe has not sent back a message it was expected to from the surface of Mars.

The problem could mean that the lander has been lost. If so, it would bring a tragic end to humanity's newest hopes of finding alien life on the planet.

But the European Space Agency warned against writing off the chances of finding the lander. There was still a decent

Scientists will be able to check that when the proper data comes back from Mars Express, the main mission. The initial signal that scientists were looking for was simply an experimental stage meant to give very quick results – and so the more reliable message might still be sent back.

Hope the space police haven't put a stop to the landing. 

Interestingly, one of the instruments on board was to probe for signs of life!!!

[Littleenki]

This is a real "told ya so" moment...aside from piss poor battery engineering, havent a few movies started with probes and landers getting snapped up by some foreign space characters?

Not good news, especially since it might've answered some of the questions Nasa seems to want to avoid sharing...

[ArMaP]

Too many wrong things in such a short post. 

Scientists will be able to check that when the proper data comes back from Mars Express, the main mission.

No, Mars Express is a different mission, it's been orbiting Mars since 2003.

Interestingly, one of the instruments on board was to probe for signs of life!!!

No, the lander is mostly a test to see if they can land something on Mars, that's why it's expected to work only a couple of days and has only a kind of meteorological station.

[zorgon]

Hope the space police haven't put a stop to the landing. 

Curious that more and more private and foreign spacecraft are failling... makes one go Hmmmmmm

Interestingly, one of the instruments on board was to probe for signs of life!!!

ESA does not have the same FEAR of finding life that NASA does

[zorgon]

No, Mars Express is a different mission, it's been orbiting Mars since 2003.

Very true but don't let FACTS get in the way of a good story

No, the lander is mostly a test to see if they can land something on Mars, that's why it's expected to work only a couple of days and has only a kind of meteorological station.

So it's a Shakespearian spacecraft? "Much to do about Nothing"?



Well everyone knows...

ALIENS DID IT!  ZOMG!!!

[ArMaP]

Now that I have more time I will add the things I left out on my first post.

Mars Express is not the main mission, the main mission is Trace Gas Orbiter, an orbiter that after dropping the lander will keep on shifting its orbit until it reaches the desired one, at the end of 2017. Then it will start using its spectrometers to analyse the light of the rising and setting Sun passing through Mars' atmosphere. It also has a colour stereo camera (not very high resolution, but good, at 4.5 metres per pixel) and a neutron detector to look for hydrogen in the upper 1 metre layer of the ground.

Although mostly a meteorological station, the lander has one interesting sensor, the Atmospheric Radiation and Electricity Sensor (MicroARES), that is supposed to get information about radiation and electrical charges in the air.

PS: the heat shield for the lander was made in part by a Portuguese company, I hope that wasn't the source of the problem. 

[Pimander]

No, Mars Express is a different mission, it's been orbiting Mars since 2003.

That was a quote from a newspaper article not me.  They were apparently using Mars express to collect some data from the landing.  Mars express has apparently confirmed that the probe has landed now.  I was surprised Mars Express was involved too.

Not sure how reliable my source is so I'll wait for ESA to confirm.

No, the lander is mostly a test to see if they can land something on Mars, that's why it's expected to work only a couple of days

Yes that is its main purpose.

and has only a kind of meteorological station.

To test for potential conditions for life.... not really for signs of life. 

Its obvious the damn thing landed though.  The question is has it landed and is functioning.

Latest from ESA: The ESOC teams are trying to confirm contact with the Entry, Descent & Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM), Schiaparelli, which entered the Martian atmosphere some 107 minutes after TGO started its own orbit insertion manoeuvre.

Its a long time past 107 minutes so we'll soon find out whether my source is any good.

[Pimander]

I just saw a report on TV and it sounds like my source is wrong.

We won't know more until tomorrow apparently.

[ArMaP]

That was a quote from a newspaper article not me.  They were apparently using Mars express to collect some data from the landing.  Mars express has apparently confirmed that the probe has landed now.  I was surprised Mars Express was involved too.

They usually do that, they use the orbiters already there to follow the new one. When Curiosity arrived on Mars Mars Express helped too, as it has a radio made specifically to receive transmissions from Mars' surface, made originally to contact Beagle 2, so it has been used in all ground missions that have arrived since Mars Express is there.

[RUSSO]

PS: the heat shield for the lander was made in part by a Portuguese company, I hope that wasn't the source of the problem. 

Well the first portuguese drone did not work so well...



It could be worst, it could be brazilian tech... It problably would just explode and kill someone in the process

[ArMaP]

Apparently, the first part of the descent went as expected, but the parachute was dropped too early and the rocket that was started just after the dropping of the parachute worked for a shorter time than it should, so the lander's speed was not as reduced as it should, so I suppose now Mars has a new small crater. 

The more important part of the mission, the orbiter, is OK. 

[zorgon]

Well the first portuguese drone did not work so well...

Seems there is a SHORTAGE of good Rocket Scientists these days

Considering that we should have all this Alien Technolgy since Roswell you would thing SOMEONE would have a good spaceship by now, huh?

Any old prototypes in the boneyards? No? hmmm milatary keeps everything else there

[ArMaP]

Well the first portuguese drone did not work so well...

That was a failure of the marine launching the drone, the second attempt worked.

PS: that navy base is some 2 km from my home.

[Eighthman]

I watched a documentary that suggests that Russia hit the mark on building an efficient rocket booster and nobody at NASA is ever going to do any better.

[zorgon]

I watched a documentary that suggests that Russia hit the mark on building an efficient rocket booster and nobody at NASA is ever going to do any better.

The Russians have always been ahead of us in space since day one

They also make those rockets on an assembly line



NASA = NO AMERICAN SPACE ACHIEVEMENTS