12 ms·

Lost Beagle2 probe found 'intact' on Mars

242 points by mhw 12y ago

mrcarrot 12y ago
I hadn't realised Colin Pillinger had died. I've found the news oddly affecting considering I never met the guy. :( (For anyone interested in the background to the Beagle2 probe, 'Backroom Boys'[1] includes a great chapter on it, and Prof Pillinger's involvement .) [1]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Backroom-Boys-Secret-Return-British-ebook/dp/B004FN1K48/ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Backroom-Boys-Secret-Return-British-...
- jgrahamc 12y ago
  Thumbs up for that book. The section about the development of mobile telephony is great.
  - arethuza 12y ago
    The section on Elite was pretty interesting as well - I can remember being amazed playing it on an Acorn Electron in '84/'85. Colin Pillinger seemed like a great bloke though, I really did feel sorry for him when the probe failed.
    - coroxout 12y ago
      Yes, I loved the Elite section - I bought the book after reading an excerpt from the Elite chapter in the Guardian [0] - and the Concorde section. I had also missed the news of Colin Pillinger's death; RIP. [0] Probably this one, should anyone else be curious: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/18/features.weekend http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/18/features.weeken...
  - jgalt212 12y ago
    Yes, great chapter. I like the bit about after the fall of Soviet Union the KGB tries to sell satellite images of Great Britain to be used by Vodaphone for radio planning.
deleted 12y ago
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graupel 12y ago
This seems like something right out of The Martian (which I am 75% through reading, and highly recommend) - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian
- mabbo 12y ago
  Love the book. Scared about the movie. Matt Damon seems an odd cast for the role. He's not that kind of funny.
  - iamdave 12y ago
    You should watch Dogma, I know it's been quite a while but he's absolutely hilarious in it.
    - jacquesm 12y ago
      You didn't say 'bless you' when I sneezed.
    - mabbo 12y ago
      The character is a clown who is stuck in a serious situation. He's a funny guy, a joker, and that keeps him alive. Matt Damon is a serious actor, who can do a serious character. Put a serious character into a funny situation, and it can be very funny. But put a serious character actor into a funny man role, and well... I'm hopeful, but worried.
  - iamdave 12y ago
    You should watch Dogma, I know it's been quite a while but he's absolutely hilarious in it.
  - mcmatterson 12y ago
    It's Ridley Scott doing a Mars shipwreck movie. I hope the humour is at a minimum.
    - 12y ago
netcraft 12y ago
It looks like it might be as simple as one of the solar panels not flipping out to expose the radio. Such bad luck. Really goes to show how many things on a mission like this has to go right.
- gadders 12y ago
  Hindsight is 20/20, but maybe they should have planned for a less than perfect landing.
  - Cthulhu_ 12y ago
    They did actually, the thing was designed to drop on a random angle and bounce around for a while on airbags until it came to a full stop, before said airbags would deflate and it would self-right itself by opening up. Here's an image with it having landed on an uneven surface: http://freespace.virgin.net/michael.jennings1/beagle.jpg http://freespace.virgin.net/michael.jennings1/beagle.jpg
theandrewbailey 12y ago
This is a good 'accidental' postmortem and provides a good example of how to not design a probe. Having many large parts move before radio contact is possible is bad design. I have a new project: compare designs of Martian missions that succeeded, and contrast against those that didn't.
- nacnud 12y ago
  Easy to say, but given the shoestring nature of the budget, perhaps more risk had to be taken.
deleted 12y ago
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- deleted 12y ago
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  - eterm 12y ago
    The only thing that separates this place from reddit is the down-voting of jokes since submissions are largely cross-polinated.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
kefka 12y ago
Look north(?) of the probe about 6m. There's a white spot that seems to match the probe. After reading the description regarding incomplete petal opening, it appears that one of the petals separated.
- teamonkey 12y ago
  I think that's unlikely based on the design. Beagle 2 was in a flattened cylinder, a bit like a hat box, that was sealed shut to protect it on entry. After becoming stationary, the 'lid' would flip open and the round solar petals would unfurl. If the lid opened allowing one of the petals to unfurl and break off during landing I wouldn't expect the rest of the petals to unfurl perfectly.
XorNot 12y ago
Part of me hears stuff like this and just goes "let's get Curiosity to motor on over and..." I am kind of hoping that at some point we'll drop a high-speed rover of some sort on Mars. Even if you took 6 months or a year, being able to cover a decent chunk of the planet would be a heck of a capability.
- nacnud 12y ago
  .. or one inside a mesh cage that can roll and jump in a chosen direction. :)
noobhater 12y ago
Leave to NASA to figure out what happened. EU is making some good space progress but nowhere near NASA. That recent landing on the comet was awesome, but having your billion dollar lander bouncing across the surface for several miles can't be good.
allcentury 12y ago
One time in a interview I got asked "If two robots are lost on mars and can't communicate with one another, how do they find each other? - please write a program outlining your thoughts" I just want to be clear it took an actual space agency 11 years to pull this off and the company I interviewed at just backed up data for people.
- fargolime 12y ago
  I'm guessing one stays put and the other does a grid pattern search.
  - kaybe 12y ago
    Most of them have means to leave marks on the ground. Would that count as communicating for that exercise?
    - IvyMike 12y ago
      That might work on the moon, but on Mars... http://www.universetoday.com/14892/mars-dust-storms/ http://www.universetoday.com/14892/mars-dust-storms/
      - kaybe 12y ago
        >> Because the planet’s atmosphere is only about 1% as dense as Earth’s only the smallest dust grains hang in the air. It should be possible to move a few larger rocks, maybe? Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity have robotic arms. Good image processing might or might not recognize patterns in the stones. (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/vikinglander2-1.jpg http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/vikinglander... for an example what most images I saw look like. I imagine it looks like this after a storm: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/vikinglander1-1.jpg http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/vikinglander...) (Of course, compared to mikeash's answer, this is overengineering and only applicable if their conditions are not met (prearranged meeting point; we have a map and know our location))
  - 12y ago
Houshalter 12y ago
Is there any chance it still works at all? Probably not but I'm just curious. They said the problem was that the antenna was blocked under the solar panel.
zaroth 12y ago
Was it just chance that the cameras would pass over that location, or was fuel spent, or other priorities diverted to discover this? That would be interesting to know, because I somewhat hope someone had to make sure we got these images and answers.

242 points by mhw 12y ago

I hadn't realised Colin Pillinger had died. I've found the news oddly affecting considering I never met the guy. :( (For anyone interested in the background to the Beagle2 probe, 'Backroom Boys'[1] includes a great chapter on it, and Prof Pillinger's involvement .) [1]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Backroom-Boys-Secret-Return-British-ebook/dp/B004FN1K48/ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Backroom-Boys-Secret-Return-British-...

jgrahamc 12y ago
Thumbs up for that book. The section about the development of mobile telephony is great.
- arethuza 12y ago
  The section on Elite was pretty interesting as well - I can remember being amazed playing it on an Acorn Electron in '84/'85. Colin Pillinger seemed like a great bloke though, I really did feel sorry for him when the probe failed.
  - coroxout 12y ago
    Yes, I loved the Elite section - I bought the book after reading an excerpt from the Elite chapter in the Guardian [0] - and the Concorde section. I had also missed the news of Colin Pillinger's death; RIP. [0] Probably this one, should anyone else be curious: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/18/features.weekend http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/18/features.weeken...
- jgalt212 12y ago
  Yes, great chapter. I like the bit about after the fall of Soviet Union the KGB tries to sell satellite images of Great Britain to be used by Vodaphone for radio planning.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

graupel 12y ago

This seems like something right out of The Martian (which I am 75% through reading, and highly recommend) - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian

mabbo 12y ago
Love the book. Scared about the movie. Matt Damon seems an odd cast for the role. He's not that kind of funny.
- iamdave 12y ago
  You should watch Dogma, I know it's been quite a while but he's absolutely hilarious in it.
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    You didn't say 'bless you' when I sneezed.
  - mabbo 12y ago
    The character is a clown who is stuck in a serious situation. He's a funny guy, a joker, and that keeps him alive. Matt Damon is a serious actor, who can do a serious character. Put a serious character into a funny situation, and it can be very funny. But put a serious character actor into a funny man role, and well... I'm hopeful, but worried.
- iamdave 12y ago
  You should watch Dogma, I know it's been quite a while but he's absolutely hilarious in it.
- mcmatterson 12y ago
  It's Ridley Scott doing a Mars shipwreck movie. I hope the humour is at a minimum.
  - 12y ago

netcraft 12y ago

It looks like it might be as simple as one of the solar panels not flipping out to expose the radio. Such bad luck. Really goes to show how many things on a mission like this has to go right.

gadders 12y ago
Hindsight is 20/20, but maybe they should have planned for a less than perfect landing.
- Cthulhu_ 12y ago
  They did actually, the thing was designed to drop on a random angle and bounce around for a while on airbags until it came to a full stop, before said airbags would deflate and it would self-right itself by opening up. Here's an image with it having landed on an uneven surface: http://freespace.virgin.net/michael.jennings1/beagle.jpg http://freespace.virgin.net/michael.jennings1/beagle.jpg

theandrewbailey 12y ago

This is a good 'accidental' postmortem and provides a good example of how to not design a probe. Having many large parts move before radio contact is possible is bad design. I have a new project: compare designs of Martian missions that succeeded, and contrast against those that didn't.

nacnud 12y ago
Easy to say, but given the shoestring nature of the budget, perhaps more risk had to be taken.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- eterm 12y ago
  The only thing that separates this place from reddit is the down-voting of jokes since submissions are largely cross-polinated.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]

kefka 12y ago

Look north(?) of the probe about 6m. There's a white spot that seems to match the probe. After reading the description regarding incomplete petal opening, it appears that one of the petals separated.

teamonkey 12y ago
I think that's unlikely based on the design. Beagle 2 was in a flattened cylinder, a bit like a hat box, that was sealed shut to protect it on entry. After becoming stationary, the 'lid' would flip open and the round solar petals would unfurl. If the lid opened allowing one of the petals to unfurl and break off during landing I wouldn't expect the rest of the petals to unfurl perfectly.

XorNot 12y ago

Part of me hears stuff like this and just goes "let's get Curiosity to motor on over and..." I am kind of hoping that at some point we'll drop a high-speed rover of some sort on Mars. Even if you took 6 months or a year, being able to cover a decent chunk of the planet would be a heck of a capability.

nacnud 12y ago
.. or one inside a mesh cage that can roll and jump in a chosen direction. :)

noobhater 12y ago

Leave to NASA to figure out what happened. EU is making some good space progress but nowhere near NASA. That recent landing on the comet was awesome, but having your billion dollar lander bouncing across the surface for several miles can't be good.

allcentury 12y ago

One time in a interview I got asked "If two robots are lost on mars and can't communicate with one another, how do they find each other? - please write a program outlining your thoughts" I just want to be clear it took an actual space agency 11 years to pull this off and the company I interviewed at just backed up data for people.

fargolime 12y ago
I'm guessing one stays put and the other does a grid pattern search.
- kaybe 12y ago
  Most of them have means to leave marks on the ground. Would that count as communicating for that exercise?
  - IvyMike 12y ago
    That might work on the moon, but on Mars... http://www.universetoday.com/14892/mars-dust-storms/ http://www.universetoday.com/14892/mars-dust-storms/
    - kaybe 12y ago
      >> Because the planet’s atmosphere is only about 1% as dense as Earth’s only the smallest dust grains hang in the air. It should be possible to move a few larger rocks, maybe? Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity have robotic arms. Good image processing might or might not recognize patterns in the stones. (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/vikinglander2-1.jpg http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/vikinglander... for an example what most images I saw look like. I imagine it looks like this after a storm: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/vikinglander1-1.jpg http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/vikinglander...) (Of course, compared to mikeash's answer, this is overengineering and only applicable if their conditions are not met (prearranged meeting point; we have a map and know our location))
- 12y ago

Houshalter 12y ago

Is there any chance it still works at all? Probably not but I'm just curious. They said the problem was that the antenna was blocked under the solar panel.

zaroth 12y ago

Was it just chance that the cameras would pass over that location, or was fuel spent, or other priorities diverted to discover this? That would be interesting to know, because I somewhat hope someone had to make sure we got these images and answers.