Beagle to Begin 'Frequent Calls'
Thursday January 1, 2004
The Beagle 2, the European Space Agency's Mars Lander, is programmed to switch into "communications" mode today. Scientists are hopeful this will increase the probability of communicating with the now silent craft.
According to the BBC, "Beagle's onboard timer should tell it when 10 "passes", or attempts to contact it via Mars Odyssey and the radio telescope at Jodrell Bank, have been made.
"If contact has not been established after this time, Beagle takes this as its cue to start hailing Earth more frequently. This mode is known as communications search mode 1 (CSM 1). In this mode, Beagle tries to send a signal twice a day."
According to the BBC, "Beagle's onboard timer should tell it when 10 "passes", or attempts to contact it via Mars Odyssey and the radio telescope at Jodrell Bank, have been made.
"If contact has not been established after this time, Beagle takes this as its cue to start hailing Earth more frequently. This mode is known as communications search mode 1 (CSM 1). In this mode, Beagle tries to send a signal twice a day."
Comments
No comments yet. Leave a Comment