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Beagle 2 leaves the UK to join Mars Express for mission to red planet
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British National Space Centre
February 24, 2003

Lord Sainsbury praises UK role in voyage 
   to look for signs of life on Mars 
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Science Minister Lord Sainsbury today praised UK scientists and 
industry for their role in the successful completion of work on the 
Beagle 2 probe to Mars. The lander is today en route to Astrium, in 
Toulouse, France, where it will be fitted to the Mars Express orbiter.

The European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft will then be taken to 
Baikonur, in Kazakhstan, where it will blast-off on a Soyuz-Fregat 
launcher this summer on a sixmonth voyage to the Red Planet.

Lord Sainsbury said:

"The successful completion of Beagle 2 is a tribute to the vision of 
the UK science community, the technical know-how of engineers from 
British industry and the faith of our European partners."

"This is an important milestone in the history of the development of 
the Beagle 2 lander. With it, the UK is playing a major role in the 
European Space Agency's mission to Mars. Today marks the beginning of 
the next phase in this exciting project."

Beagle 2 is designed to look for signs of life on Mars. It will be 
ejected from the orbiter and parachute down to the surface of the 
planet. On touchdown, it will deploy its robotic arm and paw which 
includes a mole to burrow into the ground and collect soil samples. 
These will be analysed for signs of past and present biological 
activity using the innovative Gas Analysis Package (GAP) developed by 
Professor Colin Pillinger's team at the Open University.

The lander is also packing a suite of instruments that will measure 
the weather, including temperature, pressure and wind.

The Beagle 2 project is headed by the Open University, which has 
provided the science lead, and Astrium, which is the prime industrial 
contractor.  It involves a consortium of academic institutions and 
industrial subcontractors, and is funded by a unique public/private 
partnership.

The Mars Express spacecraft, part of ESA's Horizons 2000 programme, is
designed to take a payload of seven state-of-the-art scientific
instruments to orbit Mars as well as the Beagle 2 lander. The orbiter
instruments will record data for at least one Martian year, or 687 
Earth days; Beagle 2 is designed to work for 180 Earth days. The 
satellite will also carry a data relay system for communicating with 
Earth, including the transfer of command and science data to and from 
Beagle 2.

Beagle 2 and Mars Express will undergo final tests at Toulouse. It is
expected that the spacecraft will then be sent to Baikonur next month.

Notes to Editors

1. The lander is funded through a partnership arrangement involving 
the Open University, Astrium, the DTI, the Particle Physics and 
Astronomy research Council (PPARC), the Office of Science and 
Technology and the ESA, with the PPARC additionally providing part 
support for the mission instruments. Principal Investigators for 
Beagle 2 come from the Open University (Gas Analysis Package),

Leicester University (Environmental Sensors and the X-Ray Spectrometer)
and Mullard Space Science Laboratory (Imaging Systems). 2.

For more information on Beagle 2, contact:

    * Professor Colin Pillinger FRS
    * The Open University
    * Tel: +44 (0)1908 655169
    * Fax: +44 (0)1908 655910
    * Email: psrg{at}open.ac.uk
    * Internet: www.beagle2.com
    * Press Enquiries: 020 7215 0806/0905
    * (Out of Hours: 020 7215 3234/3505)
    * Public Enquiries: 020 7215 5000
    * Textphone (for people with hearing impairments): 020 7215 6740
    * http://www.bnsc.gov.uk

http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/

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