Beagle 2 missing what a surprise NOT

It was the fourth and possibly last time the course has been adjusted for the six-wheeled robot. Such adjustments become necessary as the craft gets closer to its destination.

Spirit is being sent to Gusev Crater, a depression the size of Connecticut that scientists believe once held a lake. It is set to land Saturday.

Spirit is one half of a $820 million double mission to Mars. Its identical twin, Opportunity, is scheduled to land Jan. 24.

Both rovers were designed to prospect for minerals that could indicate whether the planet was once a wetter place hospitable to life.

Let's hope for the best....*crosses fingers*

I read somewhere that the probe was due to look at the Cydonia region. If that's true, this loss of contact could be due to other influences. Assuming, of course, that it truly has lost contact with the controllers on earth. They could be having a little chat with E.T. right now.

Tight Budget my (a)! We have pleny of funding for this kind of project. The only problem is we don't want to spend all of it on something like this because there is no need to. We will spend as little as possible to make the public believe it isn't easy to search for life on other planets. I for one think that's bogus. The government already knows there's intelligent life on Mars.

Originally posted by THENEO
I tend to prefer the blackout idea because if Aliens etc., did not want us snooping then we would have never landed a probe ever and we would also have difficulty holding a satellite in orbit around the red planet.

THENEO you might be right but you have to remember if in fact the probe had pictures of aliens the government would sure cover it up and not release it to the public regardless. I believe this is happening because the government wants to mislead us. They want us to think there is no intelligent life out there other than our own.

By the way, have any of you ever heard our government state that they believe there is intelligent life out there other than our own?

The Beagle missions were relatively low in cost to say...the US missions, many things could of gone wrong, and obviously something did to #2. Less precautions were made due to money I'd suspect. I believe most missions the US has sent to Mars have been successful. Russia hasn't had any luck yet...I don't think. It really isn't a suprise, the human race has not perfected the art of space travel yet.

I know this is a conspiracy website, but I think the "Aliens shooting them down" theory is just plain asinine, to say the least.

There is SO MUCH that goes into the tiniest space missions. People think of moon landings and shuttle missions as routine. They are anything but! The shuttle is in fact the single most advanced piece of technology on earth! And it is little more than a freight hauler and bus for tech and people.
A robotic landing on another world is an enourmous challenge for even the top scientists in the world. Why? Because we know so relatively little about Mars and space in general, and so many, many things can go wrong. Whenever you're dealing with something like these landers that are so insanely intricate, precise, and delicate, it's more likely they WON'T land correctly than they will. It's the reason why these engineers and scientists are so thrilled and overcome whenever these things go well. Some come close to tears. Why? Because they have put so much effort into it and it is really a remarkable achievement.

We sit here and think of aliens and spacemen the same way ancient peoples felt god must be angry every time a ship sank. They didn't understand the science or logic behind storms, wind, tides, etc...so they gave it a supernatural explanation. We're no different. No one here (myself included) really has the SLIGHTEST appreciation for the difficulty of these missions, so we come up with outlandish theories and tales.

I hope I haven't offended anyone, that wasn't my intent. But there are sooooo many more logical, practical, scientific explanations for what could have gone wrong we could discuss it all day. Immediately jumping to the conclusion of aliens because you don't understand the science behind it is very naive, to say the least.

I agree ^ ... Also, if aliens were destroying our space missions, you'd think with their supposed advanced technology they could get all of them. Maybe they deem some as safe to their existance? I doubt it.

Wow, lots of interesting theories and side points. Here's the thing, most likely, the problem is due to interferences from nature like gravity, solar activity, or a glitch in the probe etc, or a combo of them. Now, if people were bragging about doing this on a tight budget, well then NO ONE should be surprised that it didn't work, cuz obviously, tight budget means not having as much money as desired or needed for project, which means way more chances of it malfunctioning.

I don't get though why we don't spend more time on the moon first and establish a good system of travel and make bases before we skip to mars. That's like trying to walk before crawling. Sure, we have been to the moon before, but we haven't become experts at lunar travel by any means. Doesn't make sense to me. There must be some reason to this, IMO. Maybe someone knows that there is something of intense benefit or knowledge on mars that we can't wait for, so skipping the moon is the result. I don't know.

In regards to the aliens are causing problems, I doubt it. If we knew that they were interfering, why would we keep wasting effort on sending stuff that we KNOW will be sabotaged? Like I said, it's just natural flukes or errors of man, or a more abstract reason may be that some of these probes have been successful, but whoever is in charge like NASA and the other organizations is keeping the info we are getting from the probes to themselves because they have discovered something that the public isn't supposed to know. Like maybe proof of current or ancient alien life, or who knows what. I don't know. It's all weird.

I'm not sure if NASA is trying to keep a lid on things, if they are, the majority of the organization doesn't know about it. I'd like to think the US is an open society, esp in reference to the government...but this just isn't so.

Haven't scientists mapped the surface of Mars?? Wouldn't they have seen the supposed anomalies as they went through their data? I assume this because I know no better...no worse!

Originally posted by SimpleTruth


I don't get though why we don't spend more time on the moon first and establish a good system of travel and make bases before we skip to mars. That's like trying to walk before crawling. Sure, we have been to the moon before, but we haven't become experts at lunar travel by any means. Doesn't make sense to me. There must be some reason to this, IMO. Maybe someone knows that there is something of intense benefit or knowledge on mars that we can't wait for, so skipping the moon is the result. I don't know.

I know I'm probably oversimplifying their intentions, but I believe NASA and the ESA's main purpose of going to Mars is to search for life, or more probably, signs that life once exsisted or Mars could even support life.
After the first lunar missions in the 60's, we knew almost without question that life did not and almost certainly never exsisted on the Moon as we know it. Aside from rock samples or the ideas of a 'moon base', the moon held nothing for us except risks for astronauts and alot of money to be spent.
Mars on the other hand, was a prime candidate of all the planets in our solar system aside from earth to have once supported life.

I'd say the Mars missions are all about finding proof that life once exsisted on Mars, and of course to help map and udnerstand the martian landscape better.

[Edited on 30-12-2003 by SevenZeroOne]

well i seem to remeber NASA holding onto cydonia mars pictures for years on end before releasing the pics of the face on mars, correct me if im wrong though i only remeber reading that some where.

There is big radiation around Mars surface, I dont know details but I know that is cause of malfunctions on equipment.

Every time something is unexplained it doesn't have to be aliens

hey blobby person, what oozing liquid are u on about?

theres a post somewhere about the weird liquid an photos an stuff about it, i cant find it now it was posted around November time i think.

heres another site with very good pics of stuff on Mars from RAW image NASA no filter pics.

www.ufos-aliens.co.uk...

[Edited on 3-1-2004 by blobby]

I doubt those "king and queen" faces are real.

Seems like a moot point, as the recent US mission, so far seems to be going as planned, and the unit landed safely and started sending pictures....