Despite the bad luck suffered by Beagle2, it appears Spirit has fared much better. Indeed, it seems Mars is a planet of extremes - you either are successful or you encounter a complete failure. However, we must remember that Beagle2's fate is not sealed yet; the best opportunity of making contact with the small spacecraft will be on Wednesday this week (7th January 2004). Even then, it may need a little promting to get it back on track - assuming of course that the craft didn't simply hit the ground and smash to pieces.
Whatever the outcome of Beagle2 - and I do wish the team the best of luck - I must congratulate NASA on a brilliant piece of engineering and "coming-together". Well done!!!
Good luck to BeagleII for Wednesday
Some blurb from Space weather.
Space Weather News for January 4, 2004
http://spaceweather.com
MARS: Tonight is a good night to look at Mars. NASA's six-wheeled rover Spirit landed there less than 24 hours ago, in a place called Gusev Crater. Spirit is beaming some wonderful images to Earth--you've probably seen them on TV or on the web. But are you ready for a break from screens?
Tonight you can step outside and see Mars with your own eyes. Visit Spaceweather.com for directions and a sky map.
EARTH AT PERIHELION: Earth's orbit around the sun isn't a perfect circle, it's an ellipse. One side is closer to the sun (147.5 million km) than the other (152.6 million km). Today, January 4th, we're at the closest point, known to astronomers as perihelion. The sun looks a bit bigger than average and sunlight falling on Earth is a few percent more intense.