12.20.2005 05:57
Beagle landing
Several news sites are carrying accounts wherein
Colin Pillinger, mission scientist for the UK's Beagle 2 Mars
lander, says they've possibly located the crash site.
Pillinger is quoted in the Times article as saying that when the probe first hit the downslope of a small crater about 18.5m (60ft) in diameter, before crashing into its opposite wall, bouncing several times around the rim and eventually coming to rest at the bottom, 'It's a bit like hitting the side of the pocket in snooker.'
The BBC and some other sites are carrying this image of the crater and possible crash site:
- Scientists 'find' Beagle on Mars from the Daily Telegraph,
- Lost Beagle 2 'discovered on Mars', from This is London,
- Beagle 2 probe 'spotted' on Mars from the BBC,
- British scientist says Beagle 2 wreckage might have been spotted, Deutsche Presse-Agentur via Monsters & Critics,
- Wreckage of Beagle found scattered in Mars crater from The Times,
- British Mars probe found just a metre off its target from The Independent
[Beagle] has fallen precisely within the
landing ellipse, in a crater that has a diameter of 18.5 metres.
Had it landed just one metre to the north, we would expect to be
communicating with it today.
One of the three segmented gas bags may have been damaged during
impacts, causing it to deflate prematurely.Pillinger is quoted in the Times article as saying that when the probe first hit the downslope of a small crater about 18.5m (60ft) in diameter, before crashing into its opposite wall, bouncing several times around the rim and eventually coming to rest at the bottom, 'It's a bit like hitting the side of the pocket in snooker.'
The BBC and some other sites are carrying this image of the crater and possible crash site: