European Space Agency scientists are trying to glorify their 2003 Mars mission while discrediting a parallel NASA mission
Avi Blizovsky
In the top picture: NASA's all-terrain vehicle in the bottom - Beagle 2 of the European Space Agency
If all goes well, both missions will reach Mars in 2003.
As the European Space Agency's lander digs up ash samples and "smells" for signs of water and possibly life, the two NASA rovers will orbit the planet, take geological measurements of Martian rocks and look for indirect signs of water in the planet's past. Due to its size, which is due to both economic and practical reasons, we believe that Beagle 2 will not be able to achieve more than planting a flag European on Mars, says Colin Pillinger, a scientist at the European Space Agency for the British Space Agency. "Unlike NASA's robots, Beagle 2 will not explore the terrain, it is designed to investigate whether there is or was life on Mars, we are happy to exchange data in exchange for the leadership ."
Compared to the Beagle 2 mobile lander, NASA's all-terrain vehicles are much less scientifically efficient, says Pillinger, a professor at England's Open University. Beagle 2 will cost $50 million, and it will weigh 30 kilograms. NASA estimates that the price tag of both all-terrain vehicles Its will be about 600 million dollars and each of them will weigh 150 kg. The devices of Beagle 2 will include special devices to search for Signs of life in the soil samples, a chemical analysis that will look for signs of methane gas in the atmosphere, which can indicate the existence of life today somewhere on the surface of the planet, he says.
NASA officials say that there is no competition here and that the two missions set completely different scientific goals. "Comparing the two missions is like comparing apples to oranges," says a NASA scientist responsible for the instruments of the off-road vehicles. "The Beagle 2 is excellent, ambitious, our off-road vehicles are excellent but they have different scientific instruments and different goals. I don't see the room for debate, says Stephen Squyres, an astronomer from Cornell University. The mobility of the off-road vehicles, which are expected to cover up to 10 kilometers a day will give them a chance Explore different types of rocks Unlike the Beagle 2, the SUVs will not look for direct signs of water or Haim
"We are not trying to look for evidence of water per se. We are studying the geology and mineralogy that indicates the existence of water activity in the past, Squires says. Why not look directly for water and life like Beagle 2?" A living sea, which probably includes liquid water above the surface, we will know exactly where to land," says Sciors. Other NASA spokesmen expressed surprise at the words of Pillinger. "We work in collaboration with the European Space Agency on both agencies' Mars missions," says the spokesman. Cut the rock under the Beagle spaceship.
