For the love of all that's holy... ESA needs to learn a thing or two from NASA about public relations.
And then choose whether or not to practise these teachings based on space/weight constraints and the type of mission (scientific, in this case).
I'm sure they did think about it for a minute, but I have the feeling that the European public opinion doesn't have a "picture or it didn't happen" attitude.
When I can show a pic to my nephews and say "look, this is from another planet!" their eyes shine. And some of those excited kids could one day do science themselves, and advance our knowledge. I think it's an investment one should consider making, beyond the mere going there and collect rocks (which, of course, is the essential part).
If no sponsor saw scientific benefit in a camera then no camera goes . They also own the data from their instruments, so ESA is restricted in what material it can release during a mission.
It's more that these things are funded up the EU chain, people deciding it don't even need to get elected (and EU representatives get elected on a different issues) so they probably don't give a shit what the public thinks about them spending their money.
[1] http://exploration.esa.int/mars/45103-rover-instruments/
First I was excited to become aware of a new human artifact landing on Mars today - but now I'm even more fascinated by how things could've turned out if the Russians had managed to boogie around in an rc car on Mars three decades ahead of NASA...
Do you mean that in a threat to the world way or in a yay for science way?
15:03UT: Accordingly to nominal timeline, Schiaparelli be shutting down its radio after landing to conserve power. Stay tuned #ExoMars
https://twitter.com/ESA_EDM/status/788757413931413508
It's unclear to me whether they expected to hear a confirmation signal after landing before entering this power-saving mode.
EDIT: Not good.
End of planned @ESA_EDM transmission - still no signal at #GMRT - this is not unexpected due to very faint signal at #GMRT #ExoMars
"The carrier signal from Schiaparelli was received by an Indian radio telescope array up until a point late in the the probe's descent sequence, apparently some time after it deployed its parachute.
"We were tracking the signal traced to near the arrivial on the surface of Mars," the mission director said. "We expected it to continue, but clearly it did not. I think we have to recognize this was an experimental setup."
Engineers were not sure the direct radio link from Schiaparelli to Earth would be stable, so ESA's Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft were recording the carrier signal and detailed telemetry, respectively.
ESA says it will take about 90 minutes for that information to be relayed to Earth and analyzed.
"Let's not jump to conclusions," the mission director said. "We need to look at it, and we need to wait for the next step to get additional data from one of the relay stations... Let's wait for the next step to look at the more complete dataset."
> ESA chief Woerner now spinning possible landing failure in a way to ensure that $330M is available from ESA govts for ExoMars 2020 in Dec.
https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/788811531404337152
would be unfortunate and sad if this failure would mean cancellation of the real mission :(
He made a surface map of Mars nearly 150 years ago.
It's not just a test of a landing system.
Anyhow, there should be satellites around Moon and Mars at least, that act as relay stations. In case of landings on Mars, let us watch live (with delay) landings. I guess until Musk and Bezos start doing things, emphasis on first one, we will not have good space program.
Edit: The orbiter component of this mission also acts as a relay.
