What's the point of the EDM "landing demonstrator"? They cannot use it for the rover anyway, right?
Quote from: Oli on 03/14/2013 11:47 pmWhat's the point of the EDM "landing demonstrator"? They cannot use it for the rover anyway, right?in Europe we have tried landing on Mars once and failed, so there is a point in demonstrating the capability of landing anything on the planet
Heard some interesting rumors about this marriage. Apparently the Europeans are less than happy with the work they've seen by the Russians. I won't go into any more detail than that, except to say that some people are apparently very worried about the level of expertise in the Russian space program.
Is there confirmation of this?
Quote from: Blackstar on 03/15/2013 12:49 amHeard some interesting rumors about this marriage. Apparently the Europeans are less than happy with the work they've seen by the Russians. I won't go into any more detail than that, except to say that some people are apparently very worried about the level of expertise in the Russian space program.Really, after several decades of cooperation on planetary missions they are suddenly saying this now? I would doubt the rumours.
And yet the Russians somehow have managed to achieve (and still are) things in space that Europeans can only dream about... I think whoever said that should check the facts first. One needs to achieve something worthwhile before he/she gets a moral right to critisize.
there was a big meeting over technical issues and the Europeans discovered at least one really startling error in the Russians' work
But the original point was to test techology for the main lander. Given the history this was reasonable. This way they won't be able to do that.
An obvious question then is: can the European help the Russians correcting those mistakes ? and improving their program as a whole ?
Quote from: DalhousieBut the original point was to test techology for the main lander. Given the history this was reasonable. This way they won't be able to do that.NASA would have been responsible for the rover lander, which is reasonable, given the expertise NASA has. However the last time russia landed on mars was 40 years ago, so for me it just seems to be political decision (too expensive, so lets outsource what we have outsourced before). With a team already working on EDM this seems like a nonsensical and unnecessarily risky decision to me.Anyway, I'm sure the russians can do it
Quote from: asmi on 03/15/2013 09:36 amAnd yet the Russians somehow have managed to achieve (and still are) things in space that Europeans can only dream about... I think whoever said that should check the facts first. One needs to achieve something worthwhile before he/she gets a moral right to critisize.Er... this isn't about macho posturing or waving a flag. And I'd note that Europe's planetary science program has been a lot more active and successful in the past two decades than the Russian one.What I heard was that there was a big meeting over technical issues and the Europeans discovered at least one really startling error in the Russians' work, the kind of thing that makes them really nervous that they're working with a team that doesn't just have quality control problems, but may have more fundamental problems than that. Take that for what it's worth.