ExoMars: ESA's Mars lander crashed and destroyed on the Red Planet

 

 

The European Space Agency has said that the missing European space probe on Mars fell to the surface of the Red Planet from a height of two to four kilometres and was destroyed on impact.

 

The ESA’s assessment comes from an analysis of images taken by a NASA Mars orbiter.

 

The disc-shaped 577-kg Schiaparelli probe was sent as part of the programme to search for evidence of life. Contact was lost around 50 seconds before the expected landing time on Wednesday.

 

It led to uncertainty as to whether the lander had made it to the surface in good working conditions.

 

“Somehow the parachute has been released a bit too early and after that the engines, the main engines for the controller functions, but only for a few seconds which is also too little. So basically Schiaparelli has reached the ground with a velocity which was much higher than it should, so several hundreds of kilometres per hour and is unfortunately then of course being, well, destroyed by the impact,” said ExoMars Flight Operations Director, Michel Denis.

 

The joint Russian-European ExoMars programme is paving the way for a planned rover landing on the planet in 2020. It is expected then to drill for signs of life.

 

Despite the lander’s crash, the primary part of the mission has been a success, with Schiaparelli’s mothership brought into orbit around Mars.

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-10-22

Shot down by those pesky tripod things .

Does not instill a lot of confidence in them as being partners for a manned Mission with the USA

Not that they are perfect of course but I would have thought NASA might have been involved during or at least after the lander design phase to assist with a "sanity check" of the hardware and software systems?

They were represented during the pre-landing press briefings but not sure of any earlier involvement?

2 hours ago, realenglish1 said:

Does not instill a lot of confidence in them as being partners for a manned Mission with the USA

As long as they have that jingling sound in their jeans who cares. It might turn out to be a rare American partnership that works. I think after the election is over and Trump looses he will go into training as the next astronut. Not much else left for me to do as an encore. He is out of this world to start with anyways. 

Like life itself sometimes one must fail to be a winner. 

I can just hear the martians making up all kinds of theories and sighting reports about this pile of junk.

1 hour ago, Grubster said:

I can just hear the martians making up all kinds of theories and sighting reports about this pile of junk.

 

And then deducing its origin and deciding to attack Earth for indiscriminately using their airspace as a dumping ground.

still amazing to think humans have sent several rovers to mars and a couple are still driving around. it is almost hard to believe we have achieved this when you consider how much further mars is than the moon. hope humans make it to mars in my lifetime. would be amazing to witness that event.

Was it written off because it hit the wreckage of "Beagle" when it landed?

Or a Tesler Car They crash everywhere.[emoji592]


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Talk about spin. I guess everything can be judged a success if you take the right perspective.  

Mentioned a parachute deploying.  Do parachutes actually work in space?

2 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

Mentioned a parachute deploying.  Do parachutes actually work in space?

Mars has a thin atmosphere making it capable of supporting the use of a parachute which is deoloyed once in that atmosphere.

 

Just now, avander said:

Mars has a thin atmosphere making it capable of supporting the use of a parachute which is deoloyed once in that atmosphere.

 

Roger that, reading about it now. 

But not dense enough for parachute support all the way to the surface. I believe thrusters were to be used in the last part of the landing.

Instead of the use of thrusters & parachute they should use air bags & parachute combo like other successful landings on mars. why mess with a proven system.

Edited October 22, 20169 yr by cheapcanuck

....have a look at how many people say that Mars is actually inhabited.....

 

...and some have even been there......

 

 

1 hour ago, SOTIRIOS said:

....have a look at how many people say that Mars is actually inhabited.....

 

...and some have even been there......

 

 

Sure , they even brought back a souvenirs for proof.

 

 

8 hours ago, SOTIRIOS said:

....have a look at how many people say that Mars is actually inhabited.....

 

...and some have even been there......

 

Other rumors say Trump is from Mars.  Here, the latex human mask he wears slipped a bit at one side, and supporters close enough to see the green skin underneath, were terrified.  Read it on the internet.  It's true.  I promise!. 

 

 

Seems ridiculous to me that countries (especially mine) are spending so much money (that they don't even have by the way) going to Mars. I feel the same about the international space station which is probably producing little if any in the way of new scientific knowledge.  There are so many problems right here on Earth on which the money could be much better spent.  If the theory is that humankind needs some place to flee after we finish destroying the planet we're on, why not build the "Mars colony" right here on Earth?  After all, it would be much easier (and cheaper) to travel to this future "uninhabitable planet" than to Mars. 

4 hours ago, JKfarang said:

Seems ridiculous to me that countries (especially mine) are spending so much money (that they don't even have by the way) going to Mars. I feel the same about the international space station which is probably producing little if any in the way of new scientific knowledge.  There are so many problems right here on Earth on which the money could be much better spent.  If the theory is that humankind needs some place to flee after we finish destroying the planet we're on, why not build the "Mars colony" right here on Earth?  After all, it would be much easier (and cheaper) to travel to this future "uninhabitable planet" than to Mars. 

There is always enough money, money is just the tool of the powerful, the fact that working people don't have much is by design and keeps you working without having to be whipped or chained to do it. 

On 22/10/2559 at 11:10 AM, toofarnorth said:

Shot down by those pesky tripod things .

Too bad it wasn't shot down by one of those pesky tripod things. That for sure would prove at lest that there is some form of intelligent life on Mars. 

 

No matter what kind of an upper lips they are trying to show now, this has got to be a big disappointment in spending all this time and money on this probe to have it only crash land on the planet. 

 

So we have already left our junk on the Moon and now Mars, I wonder which Planet is next?

"And then they hit them with their metal fork's"

Does any one remember those adds?

I can just imagine the Martians falling about when they saw it drop from such a short didstance"

On 10/22/2016 at 2:27 PM, Grubster said:

I can just hear the martians making up all kinds of theories and sighting reports about this pile of junk.

Yes, I've just been on the MarsVisa site and it's full of sarcastic posts saying "it must have been an Earthling driving, because no Martian would ever do that".  Mind you, it hasn't stopped the ex-planetriate Venusians, who claim to be there for the culture, but are really only there for the Mars Bars, from using it as another excuse to bash the Martians with stories of how often brakes fail, and how the driver couldn't be found because he must have fled the scene.  Meanwhile, the Martian tourist agency has said it won't affect visitor numbers, and this piece of junk really isn't the class of tourist they want anyway.  

I hear they have some pretty sexy 'Mars girls' working the 'Mars'