Britain in Space
Beagle-2 British Mars lander
An artists impression of Beagle-2 on the surface of Mars. Picture ©
ESA
.
Beagle-2 is a design for a British Mars lander to be part of the ESA "Mars Express" mission. Mars Express is an orbiter to be launched in June 2003 on a Russian Soyux/Fregat rocket. It would arrive at Mars in December 2003.
On arrival at Mars, the Beagle-2 lander would separate from the orbiter and enter the Martian atmosphere protected by a heatshield. After slowing its descent with a parachute, Beagle-2 would bounce onto the Martian surface protected by airbags, in much the same way as the NASA "Mars Pathfinder" mission.
Once on the surface, Beagle-2 would use a variety of instruments to study the planet, including a camera and a "mole" a small robot designed to burrow underneath boulders and search for signs of life. It is possible that Beagle-2 will be the first mission to Mars specifically designed to search for life. It is for this reason that the name "Beagle" was chosen, in honour of the ship that carried Charles Darwin to the Galapagos Islands. His studies on this trip later led to the Theory of Evolution.
15 companies and 12 universities have taken part in the design of Beagle-2, including the Open University, Matra Marconi space, Martin-Baker Aircraft, the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and DERA. In late 1998 the consortium raised £25 Million to meet the ESA funding target for the project.
In a useful publicity stunt, Alex James and David Rowntree of the band Blur are supporting the mission by providing the background music for a computer animation of Beagle-2's arrival on Mars.
More to come...
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