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No Signal From Mars Lander, but European Officials Declare Mission a Success No Signal From Mars Lander, but European Officials Declare Mission a Success
(about 5 hours later)
The Schiaparelli hasn’t landed, it appears. The Schiaparelli hasn’t landed, it appears. At least, not the way it was supposed to.
Officials from the European Space Agency said on Thursday that they had stopped receiving signals from the Schiaparelli lander, a part of the ExoMars 2016 spacecraft, a sign that it had failed to make its planned “soft landing” on the surface of Mars. Officials from the European Space Agency said on Thursday that they had stopped receiving signals from the Schiaparelli lander, part of the ExoMars 2016 spacecraft, a sign that it had failed to make its planned “soft landing” on the surface of Mars.
Despite the apparent failure, officials said they were not alarmed. The lander was supposed to conduct scientific measurements from the Martian surface, but the primary goal was to help prepare for a more ambitious mission in 2020. Despite the apparent failure, officials said they were not alarmed. The lander was supposed to conduct scientific measurements from the Martian surface, but the primary goal was to help prepare for more ambitious missions in the future.
The other part of the spacecraft, the Trace Gas Orbiter, has been transmitting data since it entered Mars’s orbit on Wednesday. The other part of the spacecraft, the Trace Gas Orbiter, has been transmitting data since it entered orbit around Mars on Wednesday.
“Following yesterday’s events, we have an impressive orbiter around Mars ready for science and for relay support for the ExoMars rover mission in 2020,” Johann-Dietrich Wörner, director general of the European Space Agency, said in a statement. “Schiaparelli’s primary role was to test European landing technologies. Recording the data during the descent was part of that.”“Following yesterday’s events, we have an impressive orbiter around Mars ready for science and for relay support for the ExoMars rover mission in 2020,” Johann-Dietrich Wörner, director general of the European Space Agency, said in a statement. “Schiaparelli’s primary role was to test European landing technologies. Recording the data during the descent was part of that.”
He added that it was important to “learn what happened, in order to prepare for the future,” but said that it would take time for officials to decode the data. The mission is a joint effort by the European and Russian space agencies.He added that it was important to “learn what happened, in order to prepare for the future,” but said that it would take time for officials to decode the data. The mission is a joint effort by the European and Russian space agencies.
David Parker, the European agency’s director of human spaceflight and robotic exploration, said that “we have data coming back that allow us to fully understand the steps that did occur, and why the soft landing did not occur,” and that a board of inquiry would “dig deeper into the data.”David Parker, the European agency’s director of human spaceflight and robotic exploration, said that “we have data coming back that allow us to fully understand the steps that did occur, and why the soft landing did not occur,” and that a board of inquiry would “dig deeper into the data.”
Schiaparelli’s mother ship will remain in orbit to analyze gases in the planet’s atmosphere, an effort that could answer questions like whether the planet has ever supported life.Schiaparelli’s mother ship will remain in orbit to analyze gases in the planet’s atmosphere, an effort that could answer questions like whether the planet has ever supported life.
Early indications from radio signals captured by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope — an experimental telescope array near Pune, India — and from the orbiter suggest that the landing module “successfully completed most steps of its six-minute descent through the Martian atmosphere,” including deceleration through the atmosphere, and the deployment of its parachute and heat shield, the agency said. The atmosphere of Mars makes it tricky to land a spacecraft there. It is thick enough to heat an arriving lander to thousands of degrees, yet too thin for parachutes to provide a gentle descent.
However, both sets of signals “stopped shortly before the module was expected to touch down on the surface,” officials announced. Discrepancies between the two data sets are being analyzed by the agency’s space operations center in Darmstadt, Germany. Thus, spacecraft designers have had to devise complex landing systems for Mars, including retrorockets, giant airbags like those used by NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers, and the Rube Goldberg-esque “sky crane” that lowered the Curiosity rover to the Martian surface.
“The data have been partially analyzed and confirm that the entry and descent stages occurred as expected, with events diverging from what was expected after the ejection of the back heat shield and parachute,” the agency said. “This ejection itself appears to have occurred earlier than expected, but analysis is not yet complete. The thrusters were confirmed to have been briefly activated, although it seems likely that they switched off sooner than expected, at an altitude that is still to be determined.” The loss of Schiaparelli would not directly affect the ExoMars 2020 mission, which will rely on a different landing system developed and built by the Russians. But that too is as yet unproven.
NASA so far is the only space agency to explore the surface of Mars, beginning with the Viking landers in 1976 through the arrival of Curiosity in 2012 — seven successful landings in all. (The Soviet Union did manage to land its Mars 3 lander in 1971, but the spacecraft died seconds later.)
But NASA spends considerably more on its missions, wringing out as many possible problems as its engineers can think of.
The Curiosity mission cost $2.5 billion. NASA’s next rover, largely a clone of Curiosity with different instruments, will cost at least $2 billion.
By contrast, the price tag for the European Space Agency’s 2016 and 2020 ExoMars missions — for the orbiter and lander in 2016, and the rover in 2020 — is about $1.4 billion. (That does not include the Russian contributions.)
When NASA attempted Mars landings on the cheap, it too failed. The Mars Polar Lander, which cost $110 million, crashed in 1999.
Inadequate testing failed to uncover design flaws, an investigation concluded, including the one that is thought to have doomed the lander. The unfolding of its landing legs high above the surface may have inadvertently set off a sensor that turned off its engine, and the lander plunged to its demise. Two basketball-size probes released by Polar Lander also failed.
It’s not yet clear what happened to Schiaparelli.
Early indications from radio signals captured by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope near Pune, India, and from the orbiter suggest that the landing module “successfully completed most steps of its six-minute descent through the Martian atmosphere,” including deceleration through the atmosphere and the deployment of its parachute and heat shield, E.S.A. officials said.
Yet both sets of signals ceased shortly before the module was to have settled to the surface. Discrepancies between the two data sets are being analyzed at the agency’s space operations center in Darmstadt, Germany.
Schiaparelli appears to have ejected its back heat shield and unfurled its parachute, officials said early Thursday morning. But the thrusters may have shut down sooner than expected.