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January 16th, 2015
The UK-led Beagle-2 Mars lander, which hitched a ride on ESA’s Mars Express mission and was lost on Mars since 2003, has been found in images taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This color image has been sharpened to show possible details of the Beagle-2 lander on the surface of Mars.
Credit: Univ. of Arizona HIRISE/NASA/Leicester
Talk about close…but no cigar!
Lost on Mars since 2003, scientists from the United Kingdom and the European Space Agency (ESA) announced today that images taken by the super-powerful HiRISE camera system onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show the ill-fated Beagle-2.
Beagle-2 was the UK’s first mission to another planet.
The missing-in-action Beagle-2 lander was deployed by ESA’s Mars Express orbiter back in December 2003. But nothing was heard from the lander after its scheduled touchdown.
But the new images show the lander partially deployed on the surface. That means that the entry, descent and landing sequence worked and it did successfully land on Mars on Christmas Day 2003.
The UK-led Beagle-2 Mars lander was lost on Mars since 2003. It reportedly has been found in images taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This close-up image has been sharpened to show possible details of the Beagle-2 lander on the surface of Mars.
Credit: HiRISE/NASA/JPL/Parker/Leicester
Partially deployed
Beagle-2 has been spotted in what appears to be a “partially deployed configuration,” according to a ESA press statement.
The find and seek team involved Beagle-2 team members, as well as ESA and U.S. researchers.
Only one, two or at most three of the four spacecraft solar panels are open. The main parachute can be seen, along with what is thought to be the rear cover with its pilot/drogue parachute still attached close by.
“The size, shape, color and separation of the features are consistent with Beagle-2 and its landing components, and lie within the expected landing area at a distance of about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from its center,” according to the press statement.
Furthermore, other possible features that can be culled from the imagery: the Beagle-2 landing airbags and possibly mission’s front heatshield.
Artist’s impression of Beagle-2. The first radio contact with the lander was expected shortly after the scheduled landing time…but no signal was received.
Credit: ESA/Denman productions
Beagle-2 bottom line
The bottom line for Beagle-2: “The partial deployment explains why no signals were ever received from the lander,” an ESA press statement explains.
“Full deployment of all solar panels was needed to expose the radio antenna to transmit data and receive commands from Earth.”
That being the case, without releasing all its solar panels that would have exposed the antenna, “there is no possibility of reviving Beagle-2 and recover data from it,” ESA stated.
Scenario speculation
In a University of Arizona statement, operators of the HiRISE camera gear, the images reveal only two or three of the motorized solar panels, but that may be due to their favorable tilts for sun glints.
According to the UK Space Agency, if some panels failed to deploy, reasons could include obstruction from an airbag remaining in the proximity of the lander due to gas leakage, or a damaged mechanism or structure or broken electrical connection, perhaps due to unexpected shock loads during landing. The scenario of local terrain topology, including rocks blocking the deployment, is considered unlikely given images of the landing area, which show few rocks, but this cannot be ruled out, noted the Univ. of Arizona press release.
Further imaging and analysis is planned to narrow the options for what happened. Slope and height derived from the HiRISE images show that Beagle 2 landed on comparable flat terrain with no major hazards.
NOTE: Watch Beagle-2 leader, professor Mark Sims, discuss the mission and what this new discovery means. Video was issued by University of Leicester Press Office and can be viewed at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAKAJR4N6zQ
Posted in Space News
