***Beagle 2***

Hi folks!!

Just a reminder (if one were needed?!) that Beagle 2 starts it's seperation today, for a planned landing on Mars on Christams Day. Web site says:

"Half a million website hits [INTERNET]
Yesterday (18th Dec), the Beagle2.com site received over 500,000 hits on its pages! Check back on the 19th December for news of the Beagle 2 separation from Mars Express. We have also been recommended as the Which Online website of the week."

Full details at

www.beagle2.com...

I wonder if the Martians will let *this* one land safely....

Latest news!!

"Next Stop Mars!
19-Dec-03 11:28 GMT
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Summary

We have separation! That was the message from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, to announce that the British-built Beagle 2 spacecraft is now flying independently from its Mars Express "mother ship". Initial confirmation that the separation manoeuvre has been successful came at 10.42 GMT, when Mars Express mission control at ESOC received telemetry data to indicate that electrical disconnection had taken place between Beagle 2 and the orbiter. This was followed at 11.12 GMT by confirmation that the two spacecraft had mechanically separated. "

Good luck Beagle 2!!

Just heard this one on NPR this morning! They were talking about some of the packages, including the one to detect life by sniffing for methane in the atmosphere. American scientists sounded somewhat skeptical, though it's tempting to think that their grumbles are just sour grapes.

I'm eager to see the new 3D photos that are promised.

Originally posted by Byrd
American scientists sounded somewhat skeptical, though it's tempting to think that their grumbles are just sour grapes.

I'm eager to see the new 3D photos that are promised.

Surely, they're *too* professional to harbour such feelings Byrd??

Yes, the photo's should be very interesting!! I'm located about 10 miles away from the National Space Centre

www.nssc.co.uk...

so feel "involved", if you know what I mean? Afterall, it's not often that us "Brits" can celebrate a space exploration occasion

I'll keep monitoring the posts - including Christmas day!!

Beagle 2 fact file::

Beagle 2, the British spacecraft heading for Mars to search for life, is a tiny disc-shaped probe.

:: The �100m mission began in June with a Russian rocket launching Mars Express into space from the Baikonur space port in Kazakhstan.


:: Beagle 2 is heading for Isidis Planitia, a large lowland basin north of the Martian equator where scientists believe there was once water, and possibly life.

:: Protected by three inflatable gas bags, the probe is expected to bounce down like a beach ball, coming to rest at precisely 2.54am UK time on Christmas day.

:: After hurtling into the Martian atmosphere at 12,500mph, friction on the craft's heat shield will break its fall before the main parachute is deployed.

:: Beagle 2 will hit the ground at 36mph and bounce 12 times before cutting free from the gas bags.

:: Once on the ground, it will open out like a pocket watch to expose an array of solar panels and instruments.

:: The craft is no bigger than a motorbike wheel and weighs under 70kg, but it is packed with state-of-the-art electronics.

:: It is equipped with a rock drill and grinder, and a "mole" that can burrow under the ground collecting soil from a depth of 1.5 metres.

:: Rock and soil samples will be dropped into an on-board laboratory designed to spot the chemical signatures of life.

:: Beagle 2 will also sample the atmosphere, checking for methane.

:: Scientists think there is an outside chance of microbes similar to those which exist in very harsh conditions on Earth surviving on Mars