May 23, 2004

Beagle 2 mission was doomed long before take-off, claims inquiry The Daily Telegraph

Posted by tourdemars to Mars Express at May 23, 2004 11:32 AM

The Beagle 2 mission to Mars was a disaster waiting to happen, according to the official inquiry into the debacle, whose findings will be made public tomorrow. Hailed as Britain's first probe to another planet, Beagle 2 was supposed to have touched down on the Red Planet on Christmas Day last year and perform experiments to detect signs of alien life. Instead, all contact was lost with the probe just before it was due to land. It is now presumed to have been destroyed on impact.
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Comments

They must have been using the Smaller, Faster and cheaper montage from the 90's play book of Nasa.

Posted by: Harold LaValley at May 24, 2004 05:46 AM

I am very concerned with the current resupply situation with the ISS of having only soyuz capabilities at this time. I feel that a modified atlas or delta could do this very same job with ease. Nasa needs to think out side of the box for solutions.

Florida Today space news:
Station crew facing severe water, food shortage

NASA may have to evacuate ISS if Russian rocket mission fails

http://www.floridatoday.com/news/space/stories/2004a/spacestoryN0523ISSWATER.htm

Posted by: Harold LaValley at May 24, 2004 08:26 AM

I have another concern with the Iss as shelter if the unthinkable should happen. What happens if next on the list is a tragic Iss problem once the shuttle crew is there. I think Safe Haven needs to have some extra thought put in on that reason for not using the shuttle.

http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/040519154953.vrozt8sd.html

US panel says ISS could shelter shuttle astronauts after an accident

WASHINGTON (AFP) May 19, 2004
The International Space Station (ISS) could be used as a haven for shuttle astronauts in the event that their craft suffers "catastrophic" damage on its next flight, a NASA Task Force recommended Wednesday.

Posted by: Harold LaValley at May 24, 2004 08:48 AM

Here is another news site that I just stumbled onto this morning in Florida.
http://space.tbo.com/

Posted by: Harold LaValley at May 24, 2004 09:11 AM

The only thing that I percieve as wrong was a miss calculations on atmospheric density due to temperature.
Nasa only did better due to advance monitoring and by firing of retro rockets for a slower landing speed.
Hind sight the beagle should have had more testing of these critical systems for landing.
Other wise the rest of the probe has done wonderfully.

Posted by: Harold LaValley at May 24, 2004 12:05 PM