Image may show Beagle 2 debris
Posted: Mon, Mar 8, 2004, 2:06 PM ET (1906 GMT)
Images from an orbiting spacecraft have revealed several objects that could be debris from the failed Beagle 2 Mars lander, scientists in London said Monday. Speaking at a conference at the Royal Society, project officials said an image from an unspecified spacecraft of Beagle 2's planned landing site showed four bright spots arrayed in a "string of pearls" that could be debris from the lander. Colin Pillinger, head of the Beagle 2 project, was skeptical, saying the bright spots could instead be electronic noise artifacts and not real objects. Beagle 2 was scheduled to land on Mars on December 25, but no signals were ever received from the spacecraft and the mission was written off last month. Scientists suggest that a dust storm may have reduced the density of the atmosphere at the time Beagle 2 arrived, keeping the spacecraft from slowing down as quickly as planned and perhaps preventing the lander's radar altimeter from turning on and sending a signal to deploy the lander's airbags. An analysis of images taken by Mars Express as Beagle 2 separated show another, unidentified object; scientists don’t know if the object is real and, if so, how it might affected the lander.
Images from an orbiting spacecraft have revealed several objects that could be debris from the failed Beagle 2 Mars lander, scientists in London said Monday. Speaking at a conference at the Royal Society, project officials said an image from an unspecified spacecraft of Beagle 2's planned landing site showed four bright spots arrayed in a "string of pearls" that could be debris from the lander. Colin Pillinger, head of the Beagle 2 project, was skeptical, saying the bright spots could instead be electronic noise artifacts and not real objects. Beagle 2 was scheduled to land on Mars on December 25, but no signals were ever received from the spacecraft and the mission was written off last month. Scientists suggest that a dust storm may have reduced the density of the atmosphere at the time Beagle 2 arrived, keeping the spacecraft from slowing down as quickly as planned and perhaps preventing the lander's radar altimeter from turning on and sending a signal to deploy the lander's airbags. An analysis of images taken by Mars Express as Beagle 2 separated show another, unidentified object; scientists don’t know if the object is real and, if so, how it might affected the lander.
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