European
Space Agency (ESA) had launched a spacecraft named as “Mars
Express.” on June 2, 2003, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan,
using a Soyuz-FG/Fregat rocket. The spacecraft was named as “express”
considering the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was
designed and built and also because it was expected to have the
shortest interplanetary voyage, since Earth and Mars were closest to
each other that year; an event that happens only once in about
60,000 years.
The
Mars express spacecraft consisted of two parts; an orbiter and a
lander module named as Beagle 2. After its successful launch and
interplanetary travel, Mars express arrived at Martian space in
December 2003, after an eventful journey, because of problems
associated with star Tracker and power wiring on the spacecraft,
which needed extra maneuvers. It was also hit on the 28th of October
2014 by one one of the largest solar flares ever recorded.
Mars
express released the Beagle 2 lander on December 19 at 8:31 UTC for
landing on Martian ground on a ballistic path. It entered Mars'
atmosphere on the morning of December 25 with expectation that it
would land on the surface few hours later. But that was the last time
when mission control heard anything from the lander. After repeated
attempts to contact the lander failed, using the Mars Express craft
and also the NASA Mars orbiter circling the red planet, it was
declared lost on February 6, 2004, by the mission control.
Beagle
2, sized about 2 meters across and weighing 33.2 Kg, was built by a
consortium of British Universities. It had number of payload
instruments on board incuding a pair of stereo cameras, a
microscope, a Mössbauer spectrometer, an X-ray spectrometer, a drill
for collecting rock samples and a spot lamp. Rock samples were to be
passed by a robotic arm provided on board into a mass spectrometer
and gas chromatograph fixed in the body of the lander. It also had a
Gas Analysis Package, to measure the relative proportions of
different isotopes of carbon and methane. The lander was in the shape
of a shallow bowl with a diameter of 1m and a depth of 0.25 m. Solar
panels extended outside like flower petals from this central bowl
taking the overall size to about 3 meters. Beagle 2 was supposed to
report back from the Mars' surface using on board instruments
designed to help search for signs of life.
11
years after Beagle 2 went missing, high-resolution cameras on board
of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, have captured images
showing Beagle2, having landed safely on surface of Mars. On 16th
January 2015, David Parker, chief executive of the UK Space Agency
told a packed news conference at London's Royal Society scientific
institution that the tiny Mars lander has been found on the surface
of the red planet. He said;
"Beagle
2 is no longer lost, scientists now had "good evidence"
that the spacecraft successfully landed on Mars on the date it was
due -- December 25, 2003 -- but had only partially deployed its solar
panels. This shows that the entry, descent and landing sequence for
Beagle 2 worked and the lander did successfully touch down on Mars.”
It
appears that only two of the four petals were deployed. British
scientists say that they were left with a mystery, a mystery that
had continued to this day. It was a failure but a heroic failure.
20th
January 2014
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