ESA Schiaparelli Lander's Martian Skid Mark -- And A Probable Cause...

At the outset: there is no shame in daring mighty things, and then coming up just a little short. [The same could be said of my Cubs, last night -- but watch tonight, right? It's a seven game series -- so there may be as many as six more runs of that science experiment. Smile. . . .] Afterall, the lander crossed the whole of that vast black ocean of frigid space, perfectly, dropped into orbit -- but missed its landing telemetry (due, it seems, to a sensor-, or software- glitch).

No, in space science -- as in life -- we are more properly defined (and enlightened) by what we do, after we crash and burn, not by the crash, itself. And so, courageously, the ESA ExoMars mission team has begun the forensic analysis of the crash site -- and skid-mark, at right.

It is in this way, that all of life -- and science in particular -- moves forward: trial, and error. No shame -- just learning, for Seamus Haney's "next time 'round." Here's the bit:

. . . .It seems that the problem was caused by a software glitch or a sensor-based issue, which may have estimated a much lower altitude of the probe than the real one, which would explain all the preparations to collect evidence as part of its mission, according to Andrea Accomazzo, ESA's head of solar and planetary missions. . . .

So I am smiling about all that the Cubs. . . learned last night -- and you know that our Zen skipper took it all in -- and will have a new idea come tonight, in the cold rain. Even small moves -- in science, baseball and love -- will make big differences, longer term. That is grin-worthy, indeed. Onward -- ever onward.

नमस्ते