A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Others » UK Astronomy
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Beagle 2 Commission of Inquiry - Press Release



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old May 21st 04, 09:25 AM
Keith Dancey
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Beagle 2 Commission of Inquiry - Press Release




Paris, 20 May 2004
Press Release
N° 27-2004


Beagle 2: lessons learned and the way forward

The Commission of Inquiry on Beagle 2, jointly set up in February between
ESA and the British National Space Centre (BNSC), has recently concluded
its investigations. A joint ESA/BNSC press conference in London on Monday
24 May will be the platform to expand on the lessons learned from the
recommendations issued by the Commission of Inquiry and the action plan
adopted to implement such recommendations.

The Mars Express spacecraft, carrying the Beagle 2 lander, was launched
on 2 June last year, arriving in the vicinity of Mars in December. The
separation of Beagle 2 from Mars Express took place flawlessly on 19
December. The satellite continued its mission with its successful
insertion into a Mars orbit on 25 December, the day on which Beagle 2 was
due to land.

The first radio contact with Beagle 2 was expected shortly after the
scheduled landing time but no signal was received. Many radio contacts
were attempted over the following days and weeks, but without result. By
early February it became clear that there was no prospect of
communicating with Beagle 2 and a joint ESA/UK inquiry was set up to
investigate the circumstances and possible reasons that prevented
completion of the Beagle 2 mission.

The Commission of Inquiry, including senior managers and experts from
Europe and also from NASA and Russia held several meetings in the UK and
at ESA, interviewed the key players -directors, managers, scientists, and
engineers - involved in the development of Beagle 2, and has submitted
its findings, assessments and recommendations.

The report was submitted to the UK Minister for Science and Innovation and
the Director General of ESA on 21 April and accepted. No single technical
failure or shortcoming was unambiguously identified but a few credible
causes for Beagle 2 loss were highlighted.

[My highlights!]
********
More importantly, the Board
made it clear that there were programmatic and organisational reasons that
led to a high risk of Beagle 2 failure.

*********

[That's a bit of an eyebrow raiser! "Programmatic" - I guess means "it
was an experiment of opportunity" and therefore the package had to fit
the available spare capacity, constraining the technology used for descent,
with the inherent risk of not knowing the precise atmospheric conditions
at the time, etc. But "organisational" ??]


The outcome of the review carried out by the Commission of Inquiry is
summarized in 19 recommendations to the British Authorities and ESA.
These constitute the basis of lessons learned for the future. Both
parties have accepted them fully. ESA will undertake a course of action to
ensure their implementation.

On Monday 24 May, BNSC invites media representatives to attend a press
conference at:

The Department of Trade and Industry
Conference Centre
1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0ET

Time: 08.45 Registration
0930 Press Conference

The press conference will include:
Lord Sainsbury, UK Science Minister
Professor David Southwood, ESA Director of Space Science
David Leadbeater, Deputy Director General BNSC
Professor Colin Pillinger, Head of Planetary Sciences Research Institute,
Open University


For registration, please contact: Katie Bristowe, BNSC, on 020 7215 0807,
or e-mail:

The press conference can be followed remotely by phone by dialling + 44
(0) 870 600 0825. The participant passcode is 7659646#

For further information:

BNSC
Steve Warren, Head of Information,
Tel: +44 (0) 207 215 0806/0905
Fax: +44 (0) 207 215 0936


ESA
Franco Bonacina, Head of Media Relations Division
Tel. +33(0)1 53 69 7155
Fax. +33(0)1 53 69 7690




Cheers,

keith


  #2  
Old May 24th 04, 03:31 PM
Keith Dancey
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


Interesting set of recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry
(some of these points having been mentioned in this news group:-)


From the Press Release:


The recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry:

Recommendation 1

Future lander missions should be under the responsibility of an Agency
with appropriate capability and resources to manage it. The
lander/orbiter mission should be managed as an integrated whole.
Nationally-funded science instruments should be included in the lander
on the same basis as on the orbiter.

Recommendation 2

For future science payloads which are critical to overall mission
success or have a very high public profile, the ESA Executive should
make a formal, comprehensive assessment of all aspects of the proposals
including technical, management and finance, and advise Space Science
Policy Committee (SPC) accordingly before acceptance. If the assessment
is not positive, ESA should advise the SPC not to accept the proposal.

Recommendation 3

Sponsoring Agencies of nationally-funded contributions to ESA projects
should ensure that the required financing is committed at the outset
to meet the estimated Cost at Completion and require that a
structured development programme is established.

Recommendation 4

In addition to the ESA-led reviews of interfaces, formal Project
Reviews of nationally-funded contributions to ESA missions should be
undertaken by the sponsoring Agency to a standard agreed with ESA and
should cover the entire project.

Recommendation 5

When an independent review of a nationally-funded project, such as the
Casani review of Beagle 2, is commissioned, it is essential that ESA
and the Sponsoring Agency ensure that its recommendations are properly
dispositioned and those which are agreed are actioned and followed up
through a formal process.

Recommendation 6

For future projects, Heads of Agreement or similar formal arrangements
between co-operating entities, ESA, and national sponsors, should be
put in place at the outset of projects and should include formal
consultations at key stages of the projects to jointly consider its
status.

Recommendation 7

Fixed price contracting should be avoided solely as a mechanism for
controlling costs, and used only where the sponsor and contractor are
in alignment on the requirements and scope of the work and the sharing
of risks between them. Both parties should be confident that the
contractor has sufficient margins to manage his uncertainties and
risks.

Recommendation 8

For future high-profile/high-risk projects, ESA and any Sponsoring
Agency should manage the expectations of the outcome of the project in
a balanced and objective way to prepare for both success and failure.

Recommendation 9

At the start of a programme, the funding authority (ies) should
require that there is system-level documentation. This is necessary to
provide all partners with the technical requirements for the project
and sufficient design description and justification such that the
margins and risks being taken in each partner?s area of responsibility
are visible.

Recommendation 10

Future planetary missions should be designed with robust margins to
cope with the inherent uncertainties, and they should not be initiated
without adequate and timely resources to achieve that.

Recommendation 11

Future planetary entry missions should include a minimum telemetry of
critical performance measurements and spacecraft health status during
mission critical phases such as entry and descent.

Recommendation 12

For future planetary entry missions, a more robust communications
system should be used, allowing direct commanding of the lander for
essential actuations and resets without software involvement enabling
recoveries in catastrophic situations.

Recommendation 13

Planetary probe missions involving high-level shocks from pyros and
other events should undergo representative shock environmental testing
at system level.

Recommendation 14

Adequate and realistic deployment tests should be performed, and
sufficient time and resources must be available in the development of
a new planetary mission.

Recommendation 15

Elimination of internal connectors for mass saving should be avoided
if at all possible. But if unavoidable, a stringent system of check
and independent crosscheck should be followed during the final wiring
operation.

Recommendation 16

A back-up for the entry detection event (T0) must be included in the
design of planetary entry probes.

Recommendation 17

Future planetary entry missions should include a release of the back
cover and front shield, which is aerodynamically stable and
analytically predictable to avoid uncontrolled contact of front shield
with the lander.

Recommendation 18

Sufficient difference between ballistic coefficients of all separated
items, e.g. back covers assembly and the main parachute, or other
positive means, must be ensured to exclude collision after separation.

Recommendation 19

Adequate competencies in air bag and parachute technology must be
available for future European planetary missions, making best use of
existing expertise e.g. in USA and Russia.




Cheers,

keith


  #5  
Old May 25th 04, 08:24 PM
Dre
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


Just reading this BBC article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2950700.stm

Beagle 2 was been the recipient of small contributions from here, there and
everywhere. So academia/SMEs used these tiny funds to build the thing whilst
struggling with issues ranging from airbag problems to media promotion!! In
retrospect I think getting this project into martian space was huge triumph
against the odds whether we landed there or not.

The majority of the british public has no interest in space. If you think
the NASA has problems acquiring funds, thats nothing compared to what the
british public response would be to increasing funding for ESA/BNSC
missions.

I think Colin Pilllinger and his team did a great job, my only concern is
whether us british space fans will see another ESA/British mission ever!!!
*sigh*

Dre


  #6  
Old May 25th 04, 10:14 PM
Steve Taylor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Dre wrote:
In
retrospect I think getting this project into martian space was huge triumph
against the odds whether we landed there or not.


Absolutely right.
The majority of the british public has no interest in space.

Here I think you are wrong, there was a masssive increase in interest
precisely because it was a British project, not seen as part of the
"European" project.


I think Colin Pilllinger and his team did a great job, my only concern is
whether us british space fans will see another ESA/British mission ever!!!
*sigh*

Amen.

steve

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Lessons learnt from Beagle 2 and plans to implement recommendationsfrom the Commission of Inquiry (Forwarded) Andrew Yee Astronomy Misc 0 May 24th 04 10:52 PM
Beagle 2: lessons learned and the way forward (Forwarded) Andrew Yee Astronomy Misc 1 May 21st 04 01:28 AM
Communication Strategy of the Beagle 2 "Think Tank" (Forwarded) Andrew Yee Astronomy Misc 3 January 16th 04 07:10 PM
Mars Express attempts to 'talk' to Beagle 2 -- press briefing (Forwarded) Andrew Yee Astronomy Misc 0 January 6th 04 02:08 PM
Scientists Await First Call From Beagle (Forwarded) Andrew Yee Astronomy Misc 0 December 25th 03 04:33 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:40 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.