Feagwath
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Beagle 2
« on: 2003-12-22 01:53:00 » |
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Time to grow out those sideburns; Victorian is back in style...
The next mars lander is named after the ship used in Darwin's big voyage from Britain, around South America, to the Galapagos, through the Pacific and Indian oceans, including Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia, and back around Africa to England.
In contrast, this project seems to have been a very open one, including a vast amount of institutions for its many components, and even some artists for such things as colour calibration standards for the Beagle 2's cameras.
Currently, Beagle 2 is beginning its decent to the surface, having recently detached from the Mars Express orbiter. It is scheduled to reach the atmosphere on the 25th.
The instrument payload is really quite extraordinary for such a light device, and should give a far more complete insight into the cycles of matter and energy on the Martian surface and somewhat beneath it. The capabilities of this rover are incredible. Among the most appealing: A mass spectrometer included will test and measure specifically for carbon-12/13 isotopic ratios and molecular structures in the atmosphere and from carbon samples burned with oxygen, and will also be used for argon dating. The X-ray spectrometer will be used for potassium dating, while a gamma ray spectrometer will be used to quantify the oxidative state of iron.
The ability to bore into rocks and under the martian soil for sample collection by a tethered unit called the Mole will allow for analysis of the most likely places life might still remain, being in an accessible landing site, the equatorial basin of Isidis Planitia. The basin is dotted with cones and ridges from volcanic explosions, which by some connection that was not clear to me, indicates the presence of ice in the subsoil...
If you care for more information, apart from my babbling, an excellently informative website has been well established that should fulfill some of that need:
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Sing to me, my spongy ones,
Of birds, and bats, and things
And all the while they'd be hung
By necks and feets and wings...
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