from Hacker News

Europe and Russia prepare for historic landing on Mars

by gghh on 10/19/16, 8:40 AM with 66 comments

  • by e12e on 10/19/16, 6:26 PM

    "Operating on the planet's surface would also be a first for Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, which is a partner in the mission — and which plans to partake in future joint Europe–Russia missions, including a 2020 rover landing on Mars. The Soviet Union came close to success in 1971 with the Mars 3 probe, which failed just 20 seconds after landing on the surface."

    First I was excited to become aware of a new human artifact landing on Mars today - but now I'm even more fascinated by how things could've turned out if the Russians had managed to boogie around in an rc car on Mars three decades ahead of NASA...

  • by mhandley on 10/19/16, 3:33 PM

    From Spaceflight news:

    "The carrier signal from Schiaparelli was received by an Indian radio telescope array up until a point late in the the probe's descent sequence, apparently some time after it deployed its parachute.

    "We were tracking the signal traced to near the arrivial on the surface of Mars," the mission director said. "We expected it to continue, but clearly it did not. I think we have to recognize this was an experimental setup."

    Engineers were not sure the direct radio link from Schiaparelli to Earth would be stable, so ESA's Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft were recording the carrier signal and detailed telemetry, respectively.

    ESA says it will take about 90 minutes for that information to be relayed to Earth and analyzed.

    "Let's not jump to conclusions," the mission director said. "We need to look at it, and we need to wait for the next step to get additional data from one of the relay stations... Let's wait for the next step to look at the more complete dataset."

  • by aedron on 10/19/16, 11:39 AM

    > No photos will be taken on the surface, because the lander lacks a surface camera.

    For the love of all that's holy... ESA needs to learn a thing or two from NASA about public relations.

  • by gghh on 10/19/16, 8:51 AM

    The relevant twitter accounts are @ESA_ExoMars and @ESA_EDM. According to https://twitter.com/ESA_ExoMars/status/788621746446401536 there will be a live streaming today at 15:00 CEST.

  • by matco11 on 10/19/16, 5:12 PM

  • by merraksh on 10/19/16, 11:47 AM

    The name of the probe is perhaps a dedication to Giovanni Schiaparelli, a 19th century astronomer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Schiaparelli

  • by bemmu on 10/19/16, 12:44 PM

    The moment of landing is set for 14:48:11 GMT (16:48:11 CEST) on 19 October.

  • by yostrovs on 10/19/16, 11:51 AM

    Considering the publication in Nature, you'd think there would be a greater scientific aspect to this mission. Instead it's a proof of concept test of a landing system, and that's about all.

  • by desireco42 on 10/19/16, 4:32 PM

    So, it isn't responding. There is one thing I never understood. Why first step to anywhere is not a communication satellite. Why do we have to directly talk to anything in Solar System. We have probes to Jupiter and we talk to them with dishes from the ground on Earth. Same goes for launching everything from Earth, but there I assume, things are a little bit more complex.

    Anyhow, there should be satellites around Moon and Mars at least, that act as relay stations. In case of landings on Mars, let us watch live (with delay) landings. I guess until Musk and Bezos start doing things, emphasis on first one, we will not have good space program.

  • by Hondor on 10/19/16, 3:29 PM

    The lander appears to have failed :( Official confirmation at 6pm UTC.

  • by wiz21c on 10/19/16, 2:40 PM

    what if the parachute falls on the module after landing ?

  • by verytrivial on 10/19/16, 12:20 PM

    10MB gif on the mobile page? Really, Nature?