Mars landing: what happened to the Schiaparelli probe?

[webfact]

Mars landing: what happened to the Schiaparelli probe?

 

 

PARIS: -- The European Space Agency (ESA) is to give more details on Thursday morning (10.00 CET) as to what may have happened to the Schiaparelli probe which was supposed to have landed on Mars.

 

Contact was lost during its descent on Wednesday afternoon (European time), before it reached the surface.

 

Scientists are working to confirm its status via data received from other satellites, amid fears the probe may have crashed or been destroyed.

 

But its mothership has entered into orbit as planned and the overall Mars mission is being declared a success:

 

“Mars is the closest planet to us, where we find some situations which are maybe very good for life. So there was a better atmosphere than today, different temperatures, better temperatures and also liquid water – so if there is life in our solar system beyond the earth, then Mars is the most interesting planet,” said Jan Woerner, the European Space Agency’s Director-General.

 

Controllers at ESA’s headquarters at Darmstadt in Germany did have reason to celebrate: the spacecraft on which Schiaperelli travelled to Mars went into orbit around the Red Planet successfully.

 

The orbiter carries an atmospheric probe to study gases around the planet such as methane – a chemical that on Earth is strongly tied to life.

 

It’s thought data the orbiter may have received during Schiaparelli’s descent could provide clues as to what has happened to the lander.

 

The lander is named after Giovanni Schiaparelli, the Italian astronomer who in 1877 began mapping the topography of Mars.

 

The probe is part of the European-Russian ExoMars programme, which will search for signs of past and present life on the red planet. It represents only the second European attempt to land a craft on Mars. Britain’s Beagle 2 mission ended in failure in 2003.

 

Euronews correspondent Jeremy Wilks reported from Darmstadt:

“There is a certainly a sense of unfinished business here at ESA operation centre in Germany. We have very good news: the TGO – the Trace Gas Orbiter – has entered into orbit around the red planet, and that’s going to be a very useful spacecraft in terms of science for many years to come.”

 

The ExoMars 2016 mission is led by the European Space Agency, with Russia’s Roscosmos supplying the launcher and two of the four scientific instruments on the trace gas orbiter.

 

The joint operation is in preparation for a rover landing on Mars in 2020 – all part of the quest to find signs of life.

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-10-20

[KBsinter]

Too what end,past life ??......

[johng]

Even if they only find evidence of past life it still proves "we are not alone"

[jobsworth]

if we do not find evidence for life on mars before spacex colonises the planet we will never know if life once existed on mars or not.

even now it may already be too late since it is impossible to remove all life from a lander before it leaves earth.

 

[daveAustin]

5 hours ago, KBsinter said:

Too what end,past life ??......

 

To play tiddlywinks would be just fine and dandy with me. Anything, just keep getting out there and exploring. Not having a dig as your comment might be non-sarcastic, but folks that poo-poo space exploration as a waste of time and money are a little bit simple in my book. Better than spending millions of man hours on bombs, or religion! This probe looks like it's a goner, but keep at it. 

[sevenhills]

I cannot believe that people still believe that Space travel is possible? The only photo evidence that we have ever seen are CGI (Computer Generated Images), Fish eye Lenses, Green Screens, Photoshop, Hollywood etc.

By now 2016, we should at least have a "Real" picture of the  Earth in all it's splendour?   (Not to be confused with the live streaming that comes from the International Fake Station).

Just sayin.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, sevenhills said:

I cannot believe that people still believe that Space travel is possible? The only photo evidence that we have ever seen are CGI (Computer Generated Images), Fish eye Lenses, Green Screens, Photoshop, Hollywood etc.

By now 2016, we should at least have a "Real" picture of the  Earth in all it's splendour?   (Not to be confused with the live streaming that comes from the International Fake Station).

Just sayin.

 

Finally somebody talks sense! I mean, this science thing has gone too far and it's a world wide phenomena. All the way from the left side to the right side, front and back.

 

If a person pays any attention, he sees how many houses has their little shrines on their roofs, pointing to the same direction. That is a the proof how wide the science has spread through our communities. They are spending a lot of time, in front of their 'spiritual devices' praying and to hear the words of their mighty one. Can you believe it. Can you believe it!

 

 

Ps. Mods, please let us have a bit of occasional enjoyment. 

[CharlieK]

The thing is if they can't land a simple probe on the planet, what chance of a successful colonisation of the planet. Landing seems to be a problem?

[thaibeachlovers]

That proves there are Martians. They obviously don't like drones spying on what they get up to in their living rooms and shot it down. Bully for them, I say.

[kotsak]

Hopefully is not another metric/imperial units mixup.. 

[Chicog]

53 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

That proves there are Martians. They obviously don't like drones spying on what they get up to in their living rooms and shot it down. Bully for them, I say.

 

I'm with you, it's happened far too many times.
 

I'm guessing they've seen what goes on on this planet and want no part of it on theirs.

 

[Basil B]

Heard some Martian scrap dealer found it and has it in his yard...  

[mettech]

The world today is going mad they would send other satellite or vehicle to planet they have any idea of what is on it , money big one goes to space and if they find a way to invade there will be another playground to repeat war stories but to another planet here on this one it is too  over populated.