The european module Schiaparelli, that was supposed to land Wednesday on Mars to analyze its soil, crashed into the red planet when it reaches its surface, and probably exploded on impact, reported the European Space Agency (ESA, for its acronym in English). The mission ExoMars, the ESA takes place in cooperation with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, had as a purpose to look for life on Mars.
The agency explained in a statement that it is believed that the device "fell from a height of between 2 and 4 kilometers", which means "that impacted a considerable speed over 300 kilometres per hour."
ESA said that their scientists believe that the module was "a free-fall much greater than planned" and believe that "thrusters" of the Schiaparelli, that should slow her fall by acting in the opposite sense to the gravity of Mars, "went off prematurely.
"it is Also likely that the module explode on the impact, because the fuel tanks of propellants surely still full."
The european agency stressed, however, that these "preliminary interpretations" of what happened "will be refined after further analysis."
support US
he Explained that he could finally know what happened to the module Schiaparelli, with the that he could not contact since the landing operation, thanks to the images from the camera CTX low-resolution installed on board the satellite MRO of the agency of the u.s. NASA, orbiting around Mars.
Compared with a photograph taken in may, the image provided by the probe of the united States shows two new elements on the surface: one is bright and THAT associated with the parachute 12 feet in diameter used in the final phase of landing of Schiaparelli.
The other is a dark spot, which is located at a few meters, about 1 kilometer away from the parachute, which is interpreted as the mark left by the impact of the module that was going at a speed much higher than expected.
The announcement, which follows three days of uncertainties, and multiple efforts to re-establish communication with the module space, is a defeat for the ambitions of the european aeronautics and Russian.
With the Schiaparelli is going to conduct scientific tests on the surface of the planet for a few days, in addition to test new technologies european descent, and landing, in particular the control of the orientation and speed in contact with the surface. Also it had detailed that it was a test for the landing missions in which they intend to ship to human.
this Is the second european attempt —after the failure in 2003 of the Beagle 2 british— pose a device in Mars, a feat that until today only US has achieved with success.
The americans took a decisive step towards the conquest of Mars in 1976, when the two probes Viking 1 and Viking 2 managed to land successfully on the red planet. In 1996, the module north american Mars Pathfinder was the first on deposit in the martian soil, a small mobile robot exploration, Sojourner.
Explanation
however, the ESA explained that you can not cross out of the failure of the mission, as the martian satellite from which descended the Schiaparelli, the so-called ExoMars Orbiter of Trace Gases (OGT), makes it his mission around the red planet.
This satellite is still capturing valuable information about Mars and also received the information that the module sent during its descent, the data that the scientists of the european agency are analyzing.
"A substantial amount of engineering data is extremely valuable in the Schiaparelli were sent to the OGT during the downturn and are being analyzed by engineers day and night," he added in the statement.
in Addition, it is expected that the coming year will alter the orbit of this satellite, bringing it closer to the red planet, to "study the atmosphere of Mars in search of potential indicators of life beneath the surface".
In particular, scientists want to know where it comes from methane in the martian atmosphere, since this gas is normally associated with life, the biological processes, but also comes in a small extent by volcanic activity or hydrothermal.
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