and we have Crash Down.. (Genesis Probe Falls to Earth...)

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2004-09-08 12:54pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3638926.stm

Well that must suck for the Nasa team working on it for so long

Talon Karrde · Post by **Talon Karrde** » 2004-09-08 01:16pm

Yeah, no kidding. This is unfortunate, but they said that the samples they were carrying most likely would have been severly damaged even if the parachute did open.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-09-08 01:26pm

Another setback in our sojurun through space. Blast!

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2004-09-08 01:48pm

Dartzap wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3638926.stm

Well that must suck for the Nasa team working on it for so long

It was rather sad watching it come in this morning on NASA TV. Start out with applause as the capsule starts reentry normally. Then hear as mission control states that the drogue chute should be opening at any time. Then watch it wobbling through the air, getting closer and closer to the ground . . . no chutes opening at all, and them thump . . . break out the shovels, it's gonna be a long day.

It's amazing how intact the external shell of the capsule is, though now it's essentially a big busted-up can of broken glass. Maybe they'll be able to salvage something of scientific value, but the Utah desert is to a clean room what a raw sewage line is to an operating theatre.

It's a sad day for science, folks.

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2004-09-08 01:57pm

Ouch. I hope the scientists can salvage something. And I wonder what went wrong with the parachute.

I also hope that since this was a pretty obscure mission we won't have to put up with the loonies claiming that we'd all be killed by deadly space germs that escaped from the capsule when it crashed. It's bad enough for things to go wrong, but the idiotic conspiracy theories and moronic hypotheses from the fringe and the stupid are like rubbing salt in the wounds.

Burak Gazan · Post by **Burak Gazan** » 2004-09-08 02:01pm

Give 'em a couple weeks and they'll start popping up on the Coast to Coast radio show describing the evil plot to wipe us all out....

Burak Gazan · Post by **Burak Gazan** » 2004-09-08 02:13pm

space.com has some pictures posted of the probe after cratering in -- it's not a pretty sight

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2004-09-08 02:31pm

DAMNIT!

Ah well... back to the drawing board.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2004-09-08 03:17pm

Well, apart from the sad loss to science, it can be viewed as vindication for all those who laughed at us Yurops and the failed Beagle on Mars

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2004-09-08 03:24pm

Bah, The beagel would have worked.. except we dont know what was wrong with it.. and uhh..

Yes, that was indeed the conclusiion of the enquirey into why the Beagle two did not work

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2004-09-08 03:34pm

Dartzap wrote:Bah, The beagel would have worked.. except we dont know what was wrong with it.. and uhh..

Yes, that was indeed the conclusiion of the enquirey into why the Beagle two did not work

Spirit and Opportunity are still working fine...

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2004-09-08 03:58pm

I was actully being serios, thats a paraphrased adaption of what they atcully said after the enquirey in Newcastle was finished

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2004-09-08 05:06pm

Fuck, this really annoys me when they try there best then still manage to lose.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-09-08 05:56pm

It's funny when you think about it.

It flew all that way back to us to end up as a lawn dart. The sight of it tumbling was comical in a morbid sort of way. I hope the samples are OK though.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2004-09-08 07:23pm

What I want to know, is why they didn't try to land it in say, a lake. That way if the chute didn't open, there'd at least be something softer under it.

Or why the hell the helicopters didn't have strong net or something.

Burak Gazan · Post by **Burak Gazan** » 2004-09-08 07:56pm

Solauren wrote:What I want to know, is why they didn't try to land it in say, a lake. That way if the chute didn't open, there'd at least be something softer under it.

Or why the hell the helicopters didn't have strong net or something.

1. At terminal velocity, water = concrete, so scratch the softer theory

2.

Aw, come on!

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2004-09-08 08:05pm

Solauren wrote:What I want to know, is why they didn't try to land it in say, a lake. That way if the chute didn't open, there'd at least be something softer under it.

Yeah, but if it landed with a chute on land, although it would still be damaged it wouldn't be as bad and the possible contamination would be much less. If it landed in a lake and any water seeped in, you can kiss those samples goodbye.

Besides, making it land in the middle of nowhere in Utah meant there are less things it can hit if things go bad.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-09-08 08:11pm

Tom Brokaw managed to put it best on NBC Nightly News tonight "...NASA at least manages to prove th law of gravity." Christ, he was openly mocking NASA on live television. Too funny.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2004-09-08 08:55pm

What I meant by the strong net is not like a fish-catching net.

More like something like a sack (in principle) with alot of steel cord, that you could slowly decelerate the satelite with.
(I'm not an engineer, so this probably is not a feasible idea, but hey, it's better then a hook)

oh well. Another one bites the dust

Or more literally, slams into Utah

Post by **Cairber** » 2004-09-08 09:02pm

When NASA spoke this afternoon they said that even wobbling during the decent to earth could break the "waffers" that were holding the specimen or atoms or whatever it was. Thats why they were suppose to catch it somehow with helocopters before it even hit land and gently put it down. But from what the guy said, even the wobbly way in which it was falling as they watched could have damaged the stuff because it was that fragile. That and it was suppose to go to some special room FAST so that none of earth's atmosphere got into it, instead it sat out in the sun for a while becuase of the undetonated charge that shoulda deployed the shoot. sounds like its gonna be a complete flop.

jcow79 · Post by **jcow79** » 2004-09-08 09:07pm

If only I had gotten there in time. Perhaps I could have caught it. Drat!

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2004-09-08 09:20pm

jcow79 wrote:If only I had gotten there in time. Perhaps I could have caught it. Drat!

And you would've been squished.

SoX · Post by **SoX** » 2004-09-08 10:29pm

Dartzap wrote:Bah, The beagel would have worked.. except we dont know what was wrong with it.. and uhh..

Yes, that was indeed the conclusiion of the enquirey into why the Beagle two did not work

One of the guys from the beagle 2 program said on Channel4 that the Genesis probe used the same landing equipment\method as the Beagle 2 and he imagines that Beagle 2 probably smashed into Mars in a similar fashion. Even though i thought Genesis was meant to be captured by helicopter i think he meant the chute mechanism was the same.

We found it quite amusing in our house.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2004-09-08 10:37pm

A somewhat amusing thing I read in the company e-mail regarding this morning's crash:

"And for the craterologists, the ejecta pattern was classic."

Burak Gazan · Post by **Burak Gazan** » 2004-09-08 10:54pm

GrandMasterTerwynn wrote:A somewhat amusing thing I read in the company e-mail regarding this morning's crash:

"And for the craterologists, the ejecta pattern was classic."

So, its not a complete scientific failure then I guess

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

and we have Crash Down.. (Genesis Probe Falls to Earth...)

and we have Crash Down.. (Genesis Probe Falls to Earth...)

Re: and we have Crash Down.. (Genesis Probe Falls to Earth..