New Year on Mars
 

New Year on Mars

Let us hope that the next two scheduled Mars landers, NASA’s "Spirit" and "Opportunity" receive better treatment at the hands of the Red Planet than did the Beagle (R.I.P.).

These twin rovers are scheduled to land on January 3 (Spirit) and January 24 (Opportunity).

*crosses her fingers*

Mars is one tough rock to hit successfully. Hopefully the U.S. team has learned something from past failures and will have some success next month.

I was holding out hope for Beagle2 but it’s not looking good at this point.:( Some day I will get out a copy of my Space Research Benefits sermon and share why I believe this is SO important to ALL of us.







(How’s that for a reason for the ladies to keep me entertained) ;) lmao

January 3rd is my [deceased] brother's birthday!

That seems to me to be a good sign!

*crosses fingers anyway.........and sings "let me entertain you" to PF*

LOL!

yeah ever wonder why these missions go wrong?, the little aliens don't want us to discover them, we are like the beverly hillbillies of the universe!......lmao

it was horrible

"No-one would have believed......."

Those little green guys and their zap guns! As Dr Smith would say. "Oh the pain, the pain!"

Mars missions, 1964 to 2004
 

Here, for those who are interested, is the list of the efforts of the last 40 years of which I am aware. The Red Planet has been unforgiving.

1964 U.S. launches Mariner 3, which fails after liftoff.

1964 U.S. launches Mariner 4. First successful Mars fly-by in July 1965. The craft returns the first pictures of the Martian surface.

1964 Soviet Union launch Zond 2. Mars fly-by. Contact lost in May 1965.

1969 U.S. launches Mariner 6 and 7. The two spacecraft fly by Mars in July and August 1969 and send back images and data.

1971 Soviet Union launch Mars 2. Orbiter and lander reach Mars in November 1971. Lander crashes but orbiter sends back images and data.

1971 U.S. launches Mariner 8, which fails during liftoff.

1971 U.S. launches Mariner 9. Orbiter reaches Mars in November 1971, provides global mapping of Martian surface and studies atmosphere.

1973 Soviet Union launch Mars 5. Orbiter reaches Mars in February 1974 and collects data.

1975 U.S. launches Viking 1 and Viking 2. The two orbiter/lander sets reach Mars in 1976. Orbiters image Martian surface. Landers send back images and take surface samples.

1992 U.S. launches Mars Observer. Contact lost with orbiter in August 1993, three days before scheduled insertion into Martian orbit.

1996 U.S. launches Mars Global Surveyor. Orbiter reaches Mars in September 1997 and maps the planet. Still in operation.

1996 Soviet Union launch Mars 96, which fails after launch and falls back into Earth's atmosphere.

1996 U.S. launches Mars Pathfinder. Lander and rover arrive on Mars in July 1997. Lander sends back thousands of images, and Sojourner rover roams the surface, sending back 550 images.

1998 Japan launches Nozomi. Orbiter suffers software failure in December 1998, forcing circuitous course correction. Mission fails in 2003.

1998 U.S. launches Mars Climate Orbiter. Spacecraft destroyed while entering Martian orbit in September 1999.

1999 U.S. launches Mars Polar Lander. Contact lost with lander during descent in December 1999. Two microprobes "hitchhiking" on lander also fail.

2001 U.S. launches Mars Odyssey. Orbiter reachedbb Mars in October 2001 to detect water and shallow buried ice and study the environment. It can also act as a communications relay for future Mars landers.

2003 European Space Agency launches Mars Express. Orbiter and lander arrived at Mars in December 2003.

2003 U.S. launches Mars Expedition Rovers. Spirit and Opportunity rovers due to land on Mars in January 2004.

Fascinating stuff. Loved watching previous space successes and hope to have that chance with Spirit and Opportunity. There's so much to learn and it's so awesome to see something that no person has ever seen before. Wow!

Go Spirit and Opportunity! :)

Success!
 

The Mars rover Spirit has safely landed on Mars and has brodcast pictures. It will explore the Gusev Crater, just south of the Martian equator, which may once have held a lake.

After engineering checks, it will roll off its lander and start trundling over the surface of Mars.

The second lander, Opportunity, is scheduled to land January 24, at about 9:05 pm PST

Yeah team!

YEP! YEP! YEP
 

:D Maybe we CAN do something ritght. :D

PantyFanatic,

Yes indeed! This is however, one of the more difficult venues.

I'm of the school that believes the money could be better spent understanding and caring for the mysteries on earth before invading someone elses backyard!

just my two cents

Yes, we know not a lot about what is at the bottom of the oceans.