Beagle 2 - What's happening?

Rxke · 2003-12-25 06:08:46

For starters: Comprehensive official - updated- Beagle 2 Site

But... No Mars signal from Beagle probe (BBC Online)

Scientists still hopeful, nice article, with *very* funky picture of Prof. Pillinger...

Rxke · 2003-12-25 06:11:57

Beagle 2 misses first call home (New Scientist)

With some more info of dates on wich new attempts to contact the probe are due...

Palomar · 2003-12-25 06:23:19

*Since Rik has started a new thread devoted to Beagle 2, I'm moving this from having posted it originally in the "dust storms" thread:

From www.marsdaily.com:

"However, at the first comms check for Beagle 2 at 0630 UTC no signal was received by NASA which had its science satellite Mars Odyssey listening out for the Blur-inspired call sign of Beagle 2. The next chance for Beagle 2 contact comes at 22:45 UTC when the Jodrell Bank Observatory will try to make contact..."

I'm not sure how UTC relates to U.S. Eastern Standard Time...

Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed of course (tremendous understatement).

The article Rik refers us to says the Beagle 2 is "no bigger than an open umbrella." Interesting; I'm not sure I'd read/known that previously. I suppose Spirit and Opportunity are comparably the same size.

Best of luck to the Beagle 2...hopefully we'll get a "phone home" later today. It's currently 5:08 a.m. my time (Mountain Standard).

C'mon, Beagle 2...give us some sugar!

--Cindy

(For non-U.S. folks: "give me/us some sugar" means give some love/affection...which in this case would be A SIGNAL)

Rxke · 2003-12-25 06:27:42

The rovers are far bigger, they are sometimes compared to a golf errr... cart(?) (you know, the electric vehicles)

Beagle 2 has alternatively been compared as similarly sized as a bicycle wheel...

Rxke · 2003-12-25 06:30:50

BTW Seti@home has a nice time-conversion table, i stumbled upon it years ago, and printed it out right away; great help if you're reading international news...
UTC, GMT, PST and lots of other stuff...

Palomar · 2003-12-25 06:37:45

*Interesting...Yahoo! News isn't carrying updated stories about Beagle 2 yet, via their "Science: Full Coverage" search option. All stories there are dated Dec. 24.

However, if you're subscribed via e-mail to their News Alert feature (for Science; I am), you'll find updates in it.

Strange...they should have it all syncrhonized.

Okay...back to bed to snooze a bit. Turkey's in the oven, I'm tired. Not sure I can sleep (with all this in mind)...hopefully there'll be happy news (a "phone home") when I'm up again.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Rik, just saw your timetable conversion (SETI connection) post...will check it out, thanks.

Aetius · 2003-12-25 07:20:02

I hope the Great Galactic Ghoul isn't enjoying a Christmas feast right now.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. Maybe Beagle 2 will transmit a detectable signal today.

Rxke · 2003-12-25 08:45:09

Be sure to check out the Beagle 2 official website, mentioned in the first post on this thread, it has lots of nice stuff.

One tidbit, from the weblog: "Mitch Harris, guitarist with Napalm Death, waiting with the Beagle 2 scientists proposed to his girlfriend at the time Beagle was scheduled to land on Mars. Whilst we await confirmation of the landing, we are pleased to say that she accepted."

Now, that's so uniquely British: a member of Napalm Death (unofficial homepage), an extreme grindcore band (for the non-specialists: seriously loud, agressive type of metal...) being present at a high-tech event like this... I love it! (Love Napalm Death, too, BTW...)

The British are often seen as very elitaristic, but little things like this prove that's an overgeneralisation, to say the least!

Josh Cryer · 2003-12-25 09:05:06

Man, the American media is having a field day with this. It's really quite disgusting. "Lost in Space"? We don't know that at all. The chances of Odyssey picking up Beagles signal weren't exactly high, mind you. There were like 3 points of failure simply because the timing wasn't right or the location was off.

1) Beagle 2 could not have been pointing its antennae in the right direction, and Odyssey missed its signal (perhaps it was on an incline). Not too big a deal, Viking 1 was on a incline, so this is to be expected.

2) It could've landed outside of the zone which Odyssey passed over. Not all that unlikely, all it takes is a bit of wind, and some interesting bouncing. Granted, Pathfinder was right on target, but hey, it's not beyond the relm of possiblity, and it wouldn't mean that there's a disastor.

3) Most likely, it hadn't unfolded in time! My goodness, these things take time. Have you ever seen NASA robots move around? They're slow as molasses (may as well be, can't risk stuff breaking, and anyway, there's a time delay that makes it fairly impreceptable) Give her a chance to stretch her arms, as it were!

In any case, I find it rather horrible that the media is making such a deal out of it. Really. "Lost in space" my ass. Oh well, it gives them a chance later on in the day to claim "Christmas Miracle!" or something. They love to be reactionist.

Christina · 2003-12-25 13:04:12

Fingers crossed and I'll check the BBC tomorrow.

Rxke · 2003-12-25 13:19:20

Lost in space? Never heard about gravity, I guess. Or as one of the scientist put it: "you just have to love gravity... at least we know for sure it's on the surface!"

Rxke · 2003-12-25 13:28:15

Scientists listen for Mars lander signal (ABC)

They've not given up hope yet, though i already spotted some articles that describe Beagle 2 in the past tense (!)

Palomar · 2003-12-25 14:36:17

Scientists listen for Mars lander signal (ABC)
They've not given up hope yet, though i already spotted some articles that describe Beagle 2 in the past tense (!)

*Inside the article Rik linked to above:

"European space officials expressed optimism that a signal would be heard between 5 p.m. EST and 7 p.m. at the Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire, England..."

I'm 2 hours behind Eastern Standard Time, so for folks in my time zone (Mountain ST) that's between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m...it's now 1:30 p.m.

I've been sitting on this all day. The suspense is mounting!

Rik's article also states a giant radio telescope is being utilized to pick up a signal from Beagle 2.

I'm optimistic we'll hear from Beagle.

--Cindy

Rxke · 2003-12-25 15:17:39

Nice little interview with the colourful Prof. Pillinger: ESA

Hope he'll have a reason to celebrate very soon...

Josh Cryer · 2003-12-25 18:44:27

26 December 2003
Between 22.20 ? 23.40 UT on 25 December 2003 (23.20 - 00.40 CET), the 76-metre-dish radio telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory near Manchester, UK attempted to detect a signal from the Beagle 2 lander. No signal was detected.

On 26 December, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter will carry out another pass of the landing site at 1914 CET. This will be followed up by another sweep by Jodrell Bank early on the morning of 27 December, between 0020 and 0100 CET.

While initial attempts to detect a signal from the tiny spacecraft have failed, further efforts are scheduled whenever possible during the next few days. Beagle-2's mothership, the ESA orbiter Mars Express, will attempt contact itself early in the New Year.

link...

Josh Cryer · 2003-12-25 18:46:43

I believe!

C'mon Beagle 2, I believe in ya.

Palomar · 2003-12-25 18:50:04

*::EDIT:: I just now noticed Josh's recent, previous post with essentially the same info...oh well, this is already posted, sorry for any redundancy (not intentional). BTW, Stanford is mentioned in the text of the quote below...Stanford U in California?

This just in from marsdaily.com, regarding the very recent 2nd attempt at contact:

"Beagle 2 Remains Silent On Second Contact Attempt
London - Dec 25, 2003

The first British deep space mission remains in doubt as the second contact opportunity with the small Mars lander Beagle 2 has passed with silence. The British radio telescope facility at Jodrell Bank began an initial search for the lander around 1900 UTC, with the optium time from 2200 to midnight GMT.

The search will continue in coming days using the Mars Odyssey spacecraft now in orbit and deep space ground stations at Jodrell Bank and Stanford."

Stanford...the California university? Or a city/facility/other(?) in England?

--Cindy (keeping my fingers crossed until they turn PURPLE...c'mon, Beagle!!)

Enyo · 2003-12-25 23:17:05

The search will continue in coming days using the Mars Odyssey spacecraft now in orbit and deep space ground stations at Jodrell Bank and Stanford."
Stanford...the California university? Or a city/facility/other(?) in England?

The Jodrell Bank Dish is nicknamed the "Big Ear" and Stanford, California's is the "Big Dish". Both were used to litsen for MPL.

Things don't look good for Beagle 2 as Jodell hasn't heard it, yet.

Mars Express will be over Beagle 2's landing/crash site and has had good comms with it before release so it has the best shot at hearing it. Fingers crossed

Josh Cryer · 2003-12-26 01:39:46

Heh, Mars Express might even be able to see Beagle 2 with its 5 meter resolution camera... especially if it's broke into a thousand shiny pieces.

Enyo · 2003-12-26 02:16:24

Heh, Mars Express might even be able to see Beagle 2 with its 5 meter resolution camera... especially if it's broke into a thousand shiny pieces.

If Beagle's parachute failed and it broke up it did so at very high velocity.

If an airbag failed then it might be in bigger pieces and it might be possible under good lighting conditions to see it...

then at least we would know how it failed. Not knowing exactly what happened is the drag.

Already people are using it for why we should not send humans to Mars...

:angry:

Christina · 2003-12-26 03:02:03

In which case they are being foolish - a manned mission would be able to control it's entry and descent pretty much. Poor Beagle was at the mercy of the elements and a preprogrammed sequence of events. Sometimes you need to be able to wing it, like Armstrong did.

Rxke · 2003-12-26 04:51:59

Beagle team not giving up yet.. (BBC)

Though things look gloomy, if you are objective...

Have to adlit, Prof. Pillinger's comparison to a love letter you sent... waiting for a reply... That's a great way of seeing things!

I am pessimistic by nature, but i do hope... he's right about the resetted clock, though it's holding onto straws, IMHO.

Gennaro · 2003-12-26 05:20:26

Noooooooooo!

kippy · 2003-12-26 08:34:08

While this is a bummer and very bad PR for Mars exploration, I'm stoked that Mars Express made it. I believe that it's going to be a LOT more useful than Beagle.

This may sound like sour grapes but I don't think the chances of the Beagle finding life were too good to begin with. Being able to figure out where the underground water is on Mars is invaluable. Based on that info, a manned mission will have a very good chance of becoming self sufficient very quickly. Not to mention the fact that if the water news is good, so is the terraformation news.

I just hope that this doesn't set manned missions back another 30 years. Say your prayers for Spirit and Opportunity!

Rxke · 2003-12-26 09:53:41

On a positive note: Mars mmission is Inspirational

Even when Beagle remains mute, scientists will be happy with what they achieved...

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#1 2003-12-25 06:08:46

Re: Beagle 2 - What's happening?

#2 2003-12-25 06:11:57

Re: Beagle 2 - What's happening?

#3 2003-12-25 06:23:19

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