Beagle 2 was too great a risk
By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor
An inquiry into the loss of the Beagle 2 Mars probe in December will criticise the management of the project and the testing of the lander.
It was to land on Mars on 25 December to look for life, but contact was lost.
The inquiry will say there were not enough checks and balances built into the project and that, overall, it was too great a risk to take.
"Programmatic and organisational" reasons contributed to an increased risk of failure, the report says.
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Several years ago I noted that this mission was more hype than science and that Colin Pillinger had no idea how to put a space mission together. This report affirms what I said back then. It was a publicity stunt and a sham from the very beginning.
Beage 2: As I was saying
The whole thread (46 posts)
- Beage 2: As I was saying
- a portrait ..
- Predictions, anyone? How long before ESA offers competitive prizes like NASA now is?
- A Difference Overlooked
- David Whitehouse lurks the Habitable Zone.
- You know this for a fact?
- Another article about Beagle 2
- Exactly on point
- re: Exactly on point
- Standard practice is to design for the worst case scenario
- Importance of feedback from protypes
- re: Standard practice is to design for the worst case scenario
- Standard practice is to design for the worst case scenario
- re: Exactly on point
- Exactly on point
- don't hold your breath for a refund (n/t)
- Sounds like what they said about Mars Polar Lander. (n/t)
- Let the space organization that does not have at least one pile of multimillion dollar junk littering the Martian surface, cast the first stone. (n/t)
- re: Let the space organization that does not have at least one pile of multimillion dollar junk littering the Martian surface, cast the first stone.
- A big difference
- Yes, there are some differencess...
- re: A big difference
- re: Beagle 2 was 'too great a risk'
- You're missing the point
- re: You're missing the point
- How much extra would Beagle 2 have cost if they used the NASA airbag sytem?
- Many space scientists said MPL's landing system was doomed to failure BEFORE it arrived at Mars. (n/t)
- re: You're missing the point
- You might be right.
- A big difference
- re: Let the space organization that does not have at least one pile of multimillion dollar junk littering the Martian surface, cast the first stone.
- Let the space organization that does not have at least one pile of multimillion dollar junk littering the Martian surface, cast the first stone. (n/t)