Scientists Pin Mars Beagle Hopes on Mother Ship

Yahoo News ^ | 1/6/6 | Jason Hopps - Reuters

[NormsRevenge]

LONDON (Reuters) -

European scientists begin last ditch attempts on Wednesday to contact the missing Beagle 2 Mars probe that might have crashed during its Christmas Day touchdown.

The first fully European mission to the planet was designed to answer the question "Is there life on Mars?" but efforts to contact it have failed -- in contrast to a U.S. probe that began sending back pictures of the planet's surface this week.

Scientists searching for the British-built Beagle said hopes were riding on its mother ship picking up a signal at around 7:15 a.m. EST on Wednesday when it passes directly above the landing site. "With the overpass we will have the first optimum opportunity for the Beagle 2 to communicate with the mothership, the Mars Express," said a spokesman for the Beagle 2 project.

"If we're going to get a result at all, it's going to be via this route, but there are other days coming up after tomorrow. This is just the first try," he added.

Earlier attempts by NASA (news - web sites)'s Mars Odyssey Orbiter and the Lovell Telescope in Britain have failed to detect Beagle 2, raising fears the $82 million probe crashed on landing. Mars Express is scheduled to pass directly over the landing site on January 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th for about five to eight minutes each time.

Other passes by Mars Express on January 12th and 14th would be potentially much longer, providing even better possibilities to talk to Beagle 2.

While Mars has a formidable record as a graveyard for space missions, NASA successfully landed a golf-cart sized rover on the planet at the weekend.

NASA's "Spirit" was the fourth probe to successfully land on Mars, about 63 million miles from Earth.

Beagle 2 is packed with state-of-the-art instruments to scrape, bore and retrieve samples from the surface of Mars, seeking signs whether the planet has ever sustained life.

It has an estimated maximum operational life of 180 days before the dust and extremes of temperature on Mars are expected to put it out of action.

"We haven't in any shape or form given up on Beagle 2," mission head Colin Pillinger said.

[NormsRevenge]

Professor Colin Pillinger, the leader of the British team behind the Beagle 2 mission to Mars, answers questions during a news conference in London, January 4, 2004. European scientists begin last ditch attempts on Jan. 7 to contact the missing Beagle 2 Mars probe that might have crashed during its Christmas Day touchdown. The first fully European mission to the planet was designed to answer the question 'Is there life on Mars?' but efforts to contact it have failed -- in contrast to a U.S. probe that began sending back pictures of the planet's surface this week. (David Bebber/Reuters)

[Support Free Republic]

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg		Freepers/Avg		Monthlies
49	Nebraska	25.00	1	25.00	78	0.32	3.00	1

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

[DonQ]

The Beagle was destroyed by the Martians' WMD.

[montomike]

Is there any chance that the Spirit can drive on over to the Beagle and give it a jump start?