时间:2025-09-14 04:47:21 来源:网络整理编辑:百科
Mars is a cruel place, and it seems like it has claimed another victim.The Schiaparelli lander, part
Mars is a cruel place, and it seems like it has claimed another victim.
The Schiaparelli lander, part of the joint life-hunting ExoMars mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia, was expected to make its soft touchdown on the Martian surface Wednesday, but something went wrong.
The ESA was receiving a faint but present signal from the lander for much of Schiaparelli's descent to the surface. However, in the final moments just before landing -- when the craft was supposed to fire its thrusters -- that signal was lost.
SEE ALSO:Visions of our future on MarsESA Spacecraft Operations Manager Andrea Accomazzo said in a press briefing that the lander stopped transmitting about 50 seconds before the expected touchdown time.
Mission managers then analyzed data from the ESA's Mars Express spacecraft orbiting Mars, but that came back inconclusive.
At the press briefing, the agency emphasised that the lander's purpose was to collect data, and it had accomplished that.
“From the engineering standpoint, it’s what we want from a test, and we have extremely valuable data to work with. We will have an enquiry board to dig deeper into the data and we cannot speculate further at this time,” said David Parker, ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration.
Tweet may have been deleted
On the whole, humans don't have a great track record when it comes to landing spacecraft on Mars.
This landing would have been only the eighth successful mission to the red planet's surface, and the ESA's first.
All landers and rovers sent to Mars have been NASA missions, aside from the Soviet Union's Mars 3 craft, which operated on the planet's surface for 20 seconds in the 1970s. At the moment, NASA's Curiosity and Opportunity rovers are still functioning on Mars.
This hasn't been a total loss for the ESA and Russia. In fact, the two agencies also had a huge success at the red planet.
The ExoMars mission as a whole is tasked with figuring out whether Mars currently plays host to life or did in the past by sniffing out the planet's thin atmosphere for trace gasses that could indicate biological or geological signatures.
An orbiter sent to Mars with Schiaparelli as part of the mission did make it into its expected orbit around the red planet on Wednesday. That spacecraft will be used to beam back data about molecules it finds in the Martian atmosphere.
Plus, the very least, Schiaparelli did deploy its parachute and jettison its heat shield, so the lander did make it at least part of the way down to the Martian surface, hopefully giving scientists some idea of what could be done to increase the odds of landing next time.
Tweet may have been deleted
And there will be a next time.
Schiaparelli was designed to serve as a technology demonstration to prove out the landing system needed to send full-scale mission to the red planet's surface.
Now that the ESA has seen how the spacecraft's heat shield, parachute and other tech work while landing on Mars, it will help inform the design for a landing platform and rover that should launch to Mars for the second part of the ExoMars mission as early as 2020.
That mission will drill down beneath the surface of Mars to hunt for signs of past or present life.
Here's George Takei chilling in zero gravity for the 'Star Trek' anniversary2025-09-14 04:32
蝦仁炒苦瓜的做法是什麽?2025-09-14 03:54
胳膊上長了個硬疙瘩有點疼是什麽原因2025-09-14 03:43
Apple to finally let you customize Home Screen icons on iPhone, report says2025-09-14 03:13
Early Apple2025-09-14 03:04
生雞內金和炒雞內金的區別2025-09-14 02:51
關節扭傷熱敷還是冷敷2025-09-14 02:33
守門員必須要了解的比賽規則(足球守門員規則視頻教程)2025-09-14 02:25
Fake news reports from the Newseum are infinitely better than actual news2025-09-14 02:24
豬頭肉涼拌怎麽做好吃2025-09-14 02:15
Darth Vader is back. Why do we still care?2025-09-14 04:20
入睡時突然抽搐一下是為什麽2025-09-14 03:55
世界杯八強決出2席 !荷蘭32025-09-14 03:54
氣血虧虛吃什麽補的快2025-09-14 03:51
Here's George Takei chilling in zero gravity for the 'Star Trek' anniversary2025-09-14 03:43
睡覺呼吸不暢怎麽回事2025-09-14 03:29
UConn vs. Illinois basketball livestreams: How to watch live2025-09-14 03:04
那種梨子水止咳效果好2025-09-14 02:45
Make money or go to Stanford? Katie Ledecky is left with an unfair choice.2025-09-14 02:39
椰子布丁的做法是什麽2025-09-14 02:26