Sat, Dec 27, 2003
Where, Oh Where Has My Little Probe Gone
Beagle 2, the European Mars lander, remains eerily silent, two
days after it supposedly touched down. The American Mars Odyssey
orbiter continues to listen for sign that the 143-pound European
machine is alive, but has so far heard nothing.
"It's like sending somebody a love letter, and you know they got
it and you're waiting for a response," said Professor Colin
Pillinger, Beagle's team leader, the day after the small lander was
supposed to open its solar panels and call home.
"We did not actually see anything at all, any response from the
telescope," Pillinger said. But scientists at Jodrell Bank would
continue to analyze data from Thursday night's sweep "to see if
there is anything in there that they could possibly have
missed."
Pillinger says there are 13 more chances for the Beagle to bark
before its mothership, Mars Express, reaches an orbit low enough to
listen. That should be sometime next month. After that, the lander
is supposed to go into an automatic mode that pulses signals on and
off during Martian daylight hours.
"We are not in any way giving up yet," said Pillinger. "We will
hang on testing and waiting and checking with Beagle 2 until Mars
Express is able to look for us and that won't happen until January
4. You have to liken this to the early days of mobile phones," he
said. "We've got one mobile phone, one mobile phone mast and one
satellite, and we have to match these things up and it's not that
easy."
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