Today, 2022, although human space technology has been remarkable, man-made objects have broken through the solar system and entered the mysterious interstellar space, but space exploration is still one of the most risky areas in the world, if the spacecraft is successfully launched, it is a great joy for everyone, once the launch fails, the loss is at least hundreds of millions of dollars.
Even if space experts are careful, failures will happen occasionally, such as India's Chandrayaan-2 lunar probe crashing during the landing on the moon in 2019, losing hundreds of millions of dollars, and in the same year, Israel's Genesis lunar probe also lost contact at the last moment of landing on the moon, and the moon landing declared a failure.
On June 2, 2003, the European Space Agency launched a Mars orbiter called the Mars Express to Mars, which carried a small lander, The Hare Hound 2, which, although small and weighs only a few hundred kilograms, carries 8 kinds of advanced scientific equipment.
1, the gas analysis component, used to find material closely related to Martian life. 2, environmental probes, can be used to understand the Mars atmospheric pressure, air temperature, wind speed, wind direction and ultraviolet radiation. 3,2 stereo cameras that can be used to take pictures and build three-dimensional models of the Martian surface. 4. Microscopy, which can be used to reveal the structure of the rock.
5, Mössbauer spectrometer, studying the mineral composition of rocks. 6, X-ray spectrometer, used to determine the elements in the rock, estimate the age of the rock. 7, TBM, can allow the Hound 2 to crawl slowly on the surface of Mars. 8, core extractor / grinder, can drill into the rock, extract the original sample.
On December 19, 2003, the Mars Express successfully separated from the Hound 2, the Hound 2 flew to Mars at a speed of 20,000 km / h, in order to successfully land on the surface of Mars, the European Space Agency sent 150 control instructions, but landing on Mars still has an extremely complex process.
When it was about to reach the surface of Mars, the parachute would open and the Rabbit Hound 2 would land on Mars, and the European Space Agency engineers were very excited, but they soon found the problem: there was no way to contact the Hound 2, the engineers had been sending instructions, but they were all sinking into the sea, and the Rabbit Hound 2 was mysteriously missing.
As of January 4, 2014, it has been half a month, according to the still no contact, the engineers gave up the act of saving the Rabbit Hound 2, the engineers analyzed: it may be that the Rabbit Hound 2 did not land safely, perhaps the parachute did not open, or maybe other faults.
Over time, the existence of The Hound 2 has slowly been forgotten, but in 2015, the new discovery of the Us Mars rover once again evoked the memories of European Space Agency engineers for 11 years, and it turned out that the Rabbit Hound 2 was gradually on Mars in a very safe way.
On January 16, 2015, the U.S. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered The Hound 2 on the isidis Plain on Mars, coordinates at 10.6° north latitude and 270° west longitude, looking very intact, there was no sign of an accident around it, and the parachute unfolded normally.
Since The Hound 2 landed safely on the surface of Mars, why can't it be contacted? When the engineers enlarged the high-definition photos taken by the U.S. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, they suddenly realized that the four solar panels of the original Rabbit Hound 2 were in a semi-open state, causing the antenna to not expand normally.
Engineer Sims said that the luck of The Rabbit Hound 2 was too bad, was it really a matter of luck? Aerospace not only requires technology, but also can not be a little careless, not so much bad luck, but rather a design flaw, which led to the rabbit Hound 2 can not be properly unfolded.
Although Martian colonization has been proposed for many years, there are still no humans on Mars now, and the three mobile rovers are far apart, there is no way, The Rabbit Hound 2 can only lie quietly on the isedes plain, which is also a no-way thing, perhaps only after the successful migration of humans to Mars, the Rabbit Hound 2 can be rescued. Interesting and informative scientific content, please pay attention to the only WeChat public account: Interesting Exploration