Beagle Found on Mars, SpaceX Crash Video, and Other Highlights from Today

Today has been a busy day, with many interesting announcements from around the globe ranging from locating Europe’s Beagle-2 lander on Mars to SpaceX’s release of video of its Falcon 9 first stage crashing into instead of landing on an autonomous drone ship to NASA’s release of its source selection statements for the CCtCAP awards to Boeing and SpaceX and several more.

Here are brief summaries with links to more information:

• Beagle-2 Located on Mars.  Just over 11 years after it was lost, the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) Beagle-2 Mars lander has been found.  The lander was attached to the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Mars Express orbiter, which reached Mars in 2003 and continues to operate successfully.  The fate of Beagle-2 has been a mystery, though.   It separated from Mars Express six days before the orbiter arrived at Mars in December 2003 and was not heard from after its scheduled touchdown.    Analysis of imagery from a high resolution camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) now has located Beagle-2 and the imagery shows that it did reach the surface and partially deployed.  ESA issued a press release.  The project was led by Prof. Colin Pillinger from the UK’s Open University, who passed away in May 2014.  The BBC has several videos from individuals associated the mission reacting to the news and stills of the imagery showing where it landed.
• SpaceX Crash Video.   SpaceX founder and Chief Designer Elon Musk (@elonmusk) tweeted a video today taken by cameras aboard the company’s autonomous drone ship on which a Falcon 9 first stage was supposed to land last week.  The first stage was part of a Falcon 9 rocket that successfully lofted SpaceX’s fifth operational cargo mission (SpaceX CRS-5 or SpX-5) to the International Space Station on January 10.  The goal was to land the first stage on the drone ship as part of SpaceX’s goal to develop a reusable rocket, but instead of landing, it crashed into the ship.  Musk revealed the outcome that day, but the video was released only today.  It’s a spectacular crash, but many people tweeted their support today for Musk to keep trying including competitor United Launch Alliance President Tory Bruno, who said in a tweet (@torybruno) “Good luck next time.  I still have people from DCX.  Let me know if we can help.”  The video does not seem to be posted on SpaceX’s website, but it is posted elsewhere, including SpaceFlightNow.com.  Musk blamed the crash on insufficient hydraulic fluid in the “grid fins” designed to add stability.  SpaceX plans to try again on the DSCOVR launch, now scheduled for January 31. Musk said SpaceX already had increased by 50% the amount of hydraulic fluid for that flight.
• The Air Force announced that the launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) has been delayed by two days to January 31.
• ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain held his annual press breakfast meeting this morning to lay out ESA’s plans for the coming year.  A video of the event is on ESA’s website.
• Russian news reports said that opera singer Sarah Brightman delayed her training for an upcoming flight to the International Space Station by a week.  At first, the reports said she had a cold, but later said that it was because her mother was ill.
• Late this afternoon NASA released its source selection statements for the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCAP) awards to Boeing and SpaceX. Sierra Nevada protested the awards, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied the protest.