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Home Front: Tech
And you thought Beagle 2 was a beer barrel...
2004-09-08
Posted by:Howard UK

#11  This spacecraft had one of the longest lives in space of any "collect and bring back" mission IIRC. There's a lot that goes into firing the chute releases ... if the metal weathered a little too much, it could cause this sort of misfire.

Later missions had a little different design, I'm told ....
Posted by: rkb   2004-09-08 9:06:13 PM  

#10  BigEd -- been watching the hurricanes the last week or so, and didn't realize about mars. kinda far away. did you watch the video link? the scrap metal also had a little fire going in it, too.

what's the picture? i'm only seeing a little "x."
Posted by: nada   2004-09-08 7:42:39 PM  

#9  

EVOLUTION!
Posted by: BigEd   2004-09-08 5:37:31 PM  

#8  At lest Beagle 2 only cost the same as a good piss-up.
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-09-08 5:37:05 PM  

#7  nada-We can't talk to the marsrover for a few days. Mars is now behind / to close to line of site with the sun from us.

Yeah, now the first parachute deployed. Okay, here's the second one," Oops sensors are broken. Oops spacecraft is scrap-metal.
Posted by: BigEd   2004-09-08 5:35:16 PM  

#6  Dar -- I remember seeing footage of the Apollo mission and the quarantine, and I also remember all the worry warts talking about not bringing back any samples from Mars. I think it's a legit worry, but man, we've become a risk averse society.

I love this kind of stuff, so it's tragic they potentially lost $260Million worth of time and samples. At least the Mars Rovers are working well.

Here's a link with some video footage. Kinda humorous listening to the MSNBC reporter. Kept talking about, "Yeah, now the first parachute deployed. Okay, here's the second one," and the people in the newsroom are saying they don't see anything but a tumbling silver thing. Isn't MSNBC the ones who got Martha Stewart's trial results all screwed up, too?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5942268/
Posted by: nada   2004-09-08 4:46:49 PM  

#5  a parachute that was to slow its fall failed to deploy

"Roberts, did you pack the chute like I told you to?"

"Sure, boss, it's right here. Why?"
Posted by: Steve   2004-09-08 4:39:41 PM  

#4  Nada--That's exactly what I thought when I heard this! Remember when the Apollo 11 astronauts were put in that quarantine capsule after returning from the moon--and Nixon was outside the capsule greeting them?

Nice job, guys! Feel free to take more of my tax money and waste it!
Posted by: Dar   2004-09-08 3:52:19 PM  

#3  Oh, no! The bacteria from space has been let loose! Everyone to their bomb shelters!
Posted by: nada   2004-09-08 3:19:03 PM  

#2  Oy. Looks like a publicity still from The Andromeda Strain. Why not splash-land it at sea the way God intended?
Posted by: Jonathan   2004-09-08 2:27:43 PM  

#1  Guess the helicopter should have been carrying a big pillow instead of a hook.
Posted by: ed   2004-09-08 2:23:51 PM  

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