
Europe and Russia prepare for historic landing on Mars - gghh
http://www.nature.com/news/europe-and-russia-prepare-for-historic-landing-on-mars-1.20812
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e12e
"Operating on the planet's surface would also be a first for Russia’s space
agency, Roscosmos, which is a partner in the mission — and which plans to
partake in future joint Europe–Russia missions, including a 2020 rover landing
on Mars. The Soviet Union came close to success in 1971 with the Mars 3 probe,
which failed just 20 seconds after landing on the surface."

First I was excited to become aware of a new human artifact landing on Mars
today - but now I'm even more fascinated by how things could've turned out if
the Russians had managed to boogie around in an rc car on Mars three decades
ahead of NASA...

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int_19h
What would be even more interesting is if USSR managed to make a rover that
worked (long enough) on Venus. The longest that we've got was from a
stationary lander probe, and it was less than 1 hour - and that was back in
1984.

~~~
IndianAstronaut
Would be more amazing if they did the same with Europa. It is by far the most
fascinating place in our solar system with the most potential for life outside
earth.

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mhandley
From Spaceflight news:

"The carrier signal from Schiaparelli was received by an Indian radio
telescope array up until a point late in the the probe's descent sequence,
apparently some time after it deployed its parachute.

"We were tracking the signal traced to near the arrivial on the surface of
Mars," the mission director said. "We expected it to continue, but clearly it
did not. I think we have to recognize this was an experimental setup."

Engineers were not sure the direct radio link from Schiaparelli to Earth would
be stable, so ESA's Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft were
recording the carrier signal and detailed telemetry, respectively.

ESA says it will take about 90 minutes for that information to be relayed to
Earth and analyzed.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," the mission director said. "We need to look
at it, and we need to wait for the next step to get additional data from one
of the relay stations... Let's wait for the next step to look at the more
complete dataset."

~~~
baq
ESA management are scared to lose funding, hence the tone:

> ESA chief Woerner now spinning possible landing failure in a way to ensure
> that $330M is available from ESA govts for ExoMars 2020 in Dec.

[https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/788811531404337152](https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/788811531404337152)

would be unfortunate and sad if this failure would mean cancellation of the
real mission :(

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aedron
> No photos will be taken on the surface, because the lander lacks a surface
> camera.

For the love of all that's holy... ESA needs to learn a thing or two from NASA
about public relations.

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merraksh
_ESA needs to learn a thing or two from NASA about public relations._

And then choose whether or not to practise these teachings based on
space/weight constraints and the type of mission (scientific, in this case).

I'm sure they did think about it for a minute, but I have the feeling that the
European public opinion doesn't have a "picture or it didn't happen" attitude.

~~~
rubber_duck
>but I have the feeling that the European public opinion doesn't have a
"picture or it didn't happen" attitude

It's more that these things are funded up the EU chain, people deciding it
don't even need to get elected (and EU representatives get elected on a
different issues) so they probably don't give a shit what the public thinks
about them spending their money.

~~~
arethuza
Most (80%) of ESA's funding comes directly from countries, not via the EU, so
the people making funding decisions are very much directly elected:

[http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ESA_and_the_EU](http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ESA_and_the_EU)

NB I don't know if funding decisions are made on a project by project basis.

Edit: Also for the European Commissioners are appointed by the elected
governments of member states.

~~~
coldtea
> _so the people making funding decisions are very much directly elected_

ESA funding is NEVER on the table as a topic of discussion in any kind of
public elections of such officials in the EU.

~~~
arethuza
European space efforts did used to be discussed openly by politicians in the
UK - you can imagine how that worked out:

"as a waste of money merely 'to put a Frenchman into space.'"

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gghh
The relevant twitter accounts are @ESA_ExoMars and @ESA_EDM. According to
[https://twitter.com/ESA_ExoMars/status/788621746446401536](https://twitter.com/ESA_ExoMars/status/788621746446401536)
there will be a live streaming today at 15:00 CEST.

~~~
jessriedel
Tweet from the lander:

15:03UT: Accordingly to nominal timeline, Schiaparelli be shutting down its
radio after landing to conserve power. Stay tuned #ExoMars

[https://twitter.com/ESA_EDM/status/788757413931413508](https://twitter.com/ESA_EDM/status/788757413931413508)

It's unclear to me whether they expected to hear a confirmation signal after
landing before entering this power-saving mode.

EDIT: Not good.

End of planned @ESA_EDM transmission - still no signal at #GMRT - this is not
unexpected due to very faint signal at #GMRT #ExoMars

[https://twitter.com/esaoperations](https://twitter.com/esaoperations)

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matco11
Signal acquired!
[https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/788780512089432064](https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/788780512089432064)

~~~
retSava
That's "just" the orbiter IIUC, what we are waiting for is signs of life from
the lander.

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merraksh
The name of the probe is perhaps a dedication to Giovanni Schiaparelli, a 19th
century astronomer:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Schiaparelli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Schiaparelli)

~~~
lorenzhs
Yes it is: [http://spacefellowship.com/news/art35863/exomars-lander-
modu...](http://spacefellowship.com/news/art35863/exomars-lander-module-named-
schiaparelli.html)

He made a surface map of Mars nearly 150 years ago.

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bemmu
The moment of landing is set for 14:48:11 GMT (16:48:11 CEST) on 19 October.

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yostrovs
Considering the publication in Nature, you'd think there would be a greater
scientific aspect to this mission. Instead it's a proof of concept test of a
landing system, and that's about all.

~~~
craigsmansion
The Trace Gas Orbiter "mothership" will also scan for methane on Mars.
Furthermore it will also act as a communications relay satellite for rovers.

It's not just a test of a landing system.

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desireco42
So, it isn't responding. There is one thing I never understood. Why first step
to anywhere is not a communication satellite. Why do we have to directly talk
to anything in Solar System. We have probes to Jupiter and we talk to them
with dishes from the ground on Earth. Same goes for launching everything from
Earth, but there I assume, things are a little bit more complex.

Anyhow, there should be satellites around Moon and Mars at least, that act as
relay stations. In case of landings on Mars, let us watch live (with delay)
landings. I guess until Musk and Bezos start doing things, emphasis on first
one, we will not have good space program.

~~~
eunoia
We have three Mars orbiters that act as communication relays currently. MRO,
Mars Express and MAVEN. A fourth is proposed for 2022.

Edit: The orbiter component of this mission also acts as a relay.

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Hondor
The lander appears to have failed :( Official confirmation at 6pm UTC.

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kl4m
Any source? Direct communication to Earth was expected to be unstable, but
there is a satellite monitoring the lander as well...

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wiz21c
what if the parachute falls on the module after landing ?

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verytrivial
10MB gif on the mobile page? Really, Nature?

