ARTelevision

Late this evening, the first of three Martian landers will set down on our ruddy outland neighbor. The European “Beagle 2” will touch down and begin searching for new definitions of what is called “life”. Then, on January 3 and 24, the American ships “Spirit” and “Opportunity” will settle on the fourth planet from our Sun.

It’s time we fix our gaze above the thin cloudbelts of Earth – above the din of its whirring machinery and the cacophany of our Babel of cultural disconnects. It’s time again to raise our heads up from the cramped posture of our daily grind and contemplate another world in all its pristine splendor.

We’ve been grounded far too long – tethered too tightly. Our fears are projected around every corner. Our imaginations have become enchanted with the endless, yet simplistic, complexity of our own hypnotic clockwork creations. We’ve forgotten how little we know of what is above our heads and we have lost sight of the fact that our cities have no roof. And there is nothing above us – nothing but the infinite universe.

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riskybiz

Well said (as usual) ARTelevision. Lots of young eyes will be scanning skys tonight looking for signs of a bearded old man in a sleigh. Perhaps some of us adults should take this opportunity to look at the boundaries beyond our own small world.

I certainly don't expect that a Christmas eve landing date was accidental. What a wonderful present for us all if we will just take advantage of this opportunity to open our 'eyes'.

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Cynthetiq

I look up constantly... wondering.

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ARTelevision

Yep. While you're looking up - as soon as the sky clears - we also have a wondeful view of the crescent moon and venus - so very close - they form the famous pair depicted in many flags of many nations. The paired crescent moon and the planet Venus is one of our most beautiful astronomical visions.

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cchris

And to think that yet again a little place at the back of Woop Woop here in Australia is at the forefront to retrieve the signals.

More detailed info can be found here at the Radio Telescope site.

http://www.atnf.csiro.au/observers/d...obs_guide.html

What fascinating times we live in.

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Mars to Canberra: the Beagle has landed
By Simon Benson
December 25, 2003

LINK
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_...55E421,00.html

THE crew at Canberra's Deep Space Communications Complex are in "critical lock down" mode. Nobody is allowed to enter the control room.

This afternoon about 2pm, the 150 engineers at the Tidbinbilla site southwest of Canberra will make history when they take the first signals from the European-launched Beagle 2 as it lands on Mars on a mission to look for evidence of life.
If all has gone according to plan, the 67kg probe will now be parachuting through the Martian atmosphere.
It will bounce to a soft landing on inflatable bags, flip open, then start transmitting a signal that tells controllers it has safely touched down.
Inside the control room will be a pensive Peter Churchill, the dish director. More than likely next to him, watching a bank of computers closely, will be NASA's representative Neal Newman.
For in just a matter of weeks, the 70m parabolic dish, the largest in the southern hemisphere, will have to do it all again.
Two NASA probes are now zooming toward the planet also and are expected to land in January. They will be searching for evidence of past liquid water. Essentially, they are looking for past life also.
It is the Parkes story all over again. Instead of taking the first signals of man landing on the Moon we will be taking the first signals from Mars.
"Tidbinbilla's role is critical," Mr Newman said. "There is a huge sense of excitement. The science fiction writers got it wrong. It's Earth invades Mars."
In two weeks, Mars will have six spacecraft orbiting or patrolling its surface and Tidbinbilla will be largely responsible for keeping track of them.
The all-Australian engineering team, funded by NASA to the tune of $20 million a year, will receive the first signals from Beagle 2 and then relay them to the European Space Agency in Germany where it will be downloaded and beamed around the world.
"We will be picking up the craft on deceleration and then on landing," Mr Churchill said.
"The Beagle 2 will be relaying information through the Mars Odyssey which is orbiting Mars and we will be taking that information from Odyssey.
"Working in this field is similar to what I have heard about airline pilots . . . long periods of relative boredom highlighted with intense periods of excitement."
Today is one of those periods of intense excitement.
It's the busiest the dish engineers have ever been. As one of the three dishes which make up NASA's Deep Space Network it is currently keeping track of 20 other spacecraft in orbit around the solar system.
It will be performing a similar role when the team takes on NASA's two Mars Explorer Rovers when they land in January.
"Our involvement with all these missions is two-way radio communication with spacecraft. We receive and send data to the craft," Mr Churchill said.
"It is all computer controlled but it requires the presence of humans to conduct the orchestra. We are renting Parkes for the next couple of months because we are so busy."
Mr Newman said the ultimate goal of the missions was to find life outside Earth.

The daily telegraph.

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cchris

A live stream can be found here.
Live webcasts have started.


http://esa.capcave.com/esa/marsexpress/

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viejo gringo

life outside Earth---Yea, I know it will happen. I just hope it will happen in my life time. I wish that I could live for another 100 years just to see all of the wondwerful break throughs we will make.

I have lived in a wonderful time on this earth. Just think of all the things that have happened in the last 60 years.

When I was a kid, that huge thing flying over head was a C-47.

sbscout

to (mis)quote Sagan: with the billions and billions of stars above, what are the chances of there NOT being other worlds looking up towards us and wondering the same thing?

It's a question of faith... and I have faith that one day we'll be contacted.

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erion

Not only that, but there was a theory that because space is so big, and there is only a finite number of ways for the matter that exists to come together (a really big finite number, mind you) there's a a pretty good chance (in astronomical terms) you are, indeed, out there (or a reasonable facsimile).

splck

Too bad. No signal from the Beagle 2 yet. Doesn't look good.
http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/M...ess/index.html

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nice line eh?

Sfizzio

A quote from somewhere which seems to pertain to this situation: "Sometimes I think the surest sign of life elsewhere in the universe is that they haven't tried to contact us." (or something like that). Can someone ID that for me?

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spived2

Sfizzio, I believe that's from Bill Waterson, creator of calvin and hobbes

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"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

erion

When are these so-called scientists going to realize the Martians are shooting them down?!?!

herostar

anybody have updates?

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omega2K4

I guess it is time for us to fuck up another planet.

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ForgottenKnight

Agreed! Well said ARTelevision, and the same to you riskybiz! Another opportunity to learn more about another planet is always a great present!

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Fire

on the bright side, maybe the recent loss of so many of our probes is a good thing- by that I mean that space exploration is fueled by curiosity and our desire to meet a challenge- we have now a challenge that we have been beaten by a few times, and I hope that that fuels our desire to get up there and look around a bit.....

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RedSweater

I agree witht eh above post. We have been spending TOO much time basically throwing a stick at a wall when we should be tearing it down with a panzerfaust! Just by dropping a few bucks on a nasa isn't gonna give us star trek.

Minx

Beagle May Have Landed in Crater
AFP

Dec. 29, 2003 — Earth still couldn't hear the bark of Beagle 2 on Monday, prompting scientists to wonder if the pint-sized British probe that should have touched down on Mars on Christmas Day is stuck in a crater.

Landing in a crater was among a number of scenarios being looked at by scientists trying to regain contact with the probe, after a sixth opportunity to hear its signal passed Monday without success.

Others include communication problems, or technical hitches preventing Beagle 2 from making contact with its temporary relay station, the orbiting NASA spacecraft Mars Odyssey.

"We'd have to be incredibly accurate and incredibly unlucky to go right down this crater, which of course would not be good news," said Beagle 2's chief scientist Colin Pillinger.

"There's going to be impact debris around it, which means more rocks," he told reporters in London. "It would certainly make the bouncing process worse. The last thing we wanted was to bounce on slopes or on more rocks."

Seven more chances to hear Beagle 2's electronic bark — a nine-note tune composed by the British pop group Blur — remain until Jan. 17, including two on Tuesday at 7:24 a.m. GMT and 8:20 a.m. GMT (2:24 a.m. and 3:20 p.m. ET) and one on New Year's Eve day at 9:04 a.m. GMT (4:04 a.m. ET).

From Jan. 6 there will be four more attempts made via Mars Express, the European Space Agency craft on which the 33-kilo (73-pound) probe, named after the Royal Navy exploration ship on which Charles Darwin honed his theory of evolution in the 19th century, travelled to the Red Planet.

"Our best opportunity to communicate with Beagle 2 is probably to wait until Mars Express is in position," said mission manager Mark Sims.

Jam-packed with revolutionary instruments, the disc-shaped probe had been due to touch down at Isidis Planitia, a large, flat plain near the Martian equator that may once have been awash with water.

Scientists picked the site — a flat, low-lying basin that's 700 square kilometers (270 square miles) in area — to minimize natural hazards.

But, not surprisingly for a pockmarked planet, the area has a crater one kilometer (1,100 yards) wide at its center, and possibly hundreds of meters (feet) deep.

It was only revealed by close-up pictures of the site taken by another NASA orbiter, Mars Global Surveyor, minutes after the British probe was supposed to have landed last Thursday.

When Beagle 2 separated from Mars Express on Dec. 19 after a 400 million kilometer (250 million mile) journey through the heavens it was set to become the first European spacecraft to land on another planet.

During its 180-day mission, it was programmed to test rock, soil and air samples for signs of past or present life on Mars.

Although Beagle 2 is one of the most spectacular parts of the Mars Express mission, it represents only about 10 percent of the overall project's total scientific work, European Space Agency scientists have said.

Other instruments aboard the Mars Express will enable researchers to obtain the most comprehensive coverage of the planet to date.

The equipment include a stereoscopic camera, a means of observing gravity anomalies, a radar capable of seeing beneath the surface and spectrometers to examine minerals and the atmosphere for any evidence of life.

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BentNotTwisted

Looking up and thinking about what might be out there is commendable. Personally, I would like to see lots more humans get off this rock and start exlporing space for themselves instead of just sending probes. Check out the Space Elevator to get an idea of how we will actually do it.

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ARTelevision

On the verge of roving the landscape it's viewing, Spirit rover sent back the big pic...

Martian Panorama

I figure this is one of them pictures that's worth a million words!

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hklong741

I do hope we someday colonize another planet.

It may be the only way we realize that the problems of our lives are more likely created by us, than the planets.

Maybe the Martians can prove to us that hatred does not only exist on Earth.

splck

This is the site i've been checking out for the rovers.
Mars rover

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nice line eh?

PulpMind

I won't be too surprised if they find evidence of past life on Mars... considering some of the extreme places on earth where life has been found (in far below freezing water of the arctic, and in 700 degree volcanic gas vents)... finding life still there will be pretty exciting though...