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  BY SPACEFLIGHT NOW Reload this page for updates on Europe's Mars Express spacecraft arrival at the Red Planet and the Beagle 2 landing. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2003 The radio telescope performed a scan of the sky while Mars was visible to the observatory. "At present, Beagle 2 should be sending a pulsing on-off signal once a minute (10 seconds on, 50 seconds off). Some 9 minutes later, this very slow "Morse Code" broadcast should reach Earth after a journey of some 98 million miles (157 million km)," Beagle officials said in a statement. "Although the Beagle's transmitter power is only five watts, little more than that of a mobile phone, scientists are confident that the signal can be detected by the state-of-the-art receiver recently installed on the Lovell Telescope. However, a significant drop in signal strength would require rigorous analysis of the data before it could be unambiguously identified. "Although the ground-based radio telescopes will not be able to send any reply, the new information provided by detection of the transmission from Beagle 2 would enable the mission team to determine a provisional location for Beagle 2. This, in turn, would allow the communications antenna on Mars Odyssey to be directed more accurately towards Beagle 2 during the orbiter's subsequent overhead passes." The next Odyssey flight over the landing site will occur in a few hours. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2003 2055 GMT (3:55 p.m. EST) Jodrell Bank radio telescope in the U.K. will continue listening this evening in hopes of detecting a transmission from the tiny lander that is supposed to be operating on the surface of Mars. Odyssey will try again at 0657 GMT (1:57 a.m. EST) and 1814 GMT (1:14 p.m. EST) on Saturday. "While initial attempts to detect a signal from the tiny spacecraft have failed, further efforts are scheduled whenever possible during the next few days," the European Space Agency says. 1835 GMT (1:35 p.m. EST) According to the European Space Agency, the next sweep by Jodrell Bank will occur between 2320 and 2400 GMT (6:20-7 p.m. EST) tonight, although this giant radio telescope likely will begin looking earlier than that window. On Saturday, Mars Odyssey passes over the landing site again at 0657 GMT (1:57 a.m. EST). Jodrell Bank becomes available between 2316 and 2356 GMT (6:16 and 6:56 p.m. EST). Odyssey will continue the search daily and the Stanford University radio telescope in the U.S. is expected to also join in the effort, ESA said. "If all those attempts are unsuccessful, then Mars Express itself flies over the landing site in the first week of January 2004. Of all these potential signal detectors, Mars Express is the only one that has been specially designed and tested to transmit and receive signals from Beagle 2. "The hope is strong that the Mars Express orbiter will be successful in this task," ESA officials said. |
