Mars Express Mothership Was In Wrong Place -- It's Moved

As scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena (CA) were whooping it up on news that the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit had successfully landed on the Red Planet, it was quite a different scene half a world away. The European Space Agency's Beagle 2 rover, which was slated to land on Mars Christmas Day, has yet to be heard from.

Sunday, British scientists say powerful radio telescopes trying to pick up evidence of Beagle's survival have found nothing. They also say the best way to contact Beagle -- its mothership, Mars Express -- is in the wrong place and had to be moved. The Mars Express orbiter was moved last week into a lower polar orbit. That was part of the plan. But apparently, it's the wrong orbit -- or at least, not the one ESA officials had hoped for.

Now, ESA officials hope to make contact with Beagle by Wednesday. Colin Pillinger, the mission's chief scientist, said there would be "a real pull-out attempt on January 7 to get in touch with our spacecraft. This is the best chance we have. If our best chance doesn’t work we really have to start believing that time is running out." (Beagle's assumed landing area, photographed by the US orbiter Mars Odessey, right)

Is this the end of Beagle 2? Pillinger refused to speculate. "I am not a betting man. We will go through the whole process and only when we go through all the options do we give up."

Once Beagle 2 is in its proper orbit, it will sweep to within 125 miles of the Martian surface, looking for Beagle's "auto-signal," initiated when the rover failed to make radio contact with either Earth or Mars Express.

Even if Beagle remains silent, the Mars Express mission isn't a loss. The orbiter will continue to circle the planet from pole to pole, using deep-radar imaging to look for water in the ground or at least, signs that there was water on the surface at one time.

But Pillinger says it's too early for that kind of speculation. "That isn’t to say we have in any shape or form given up on Beagle 2."

FMI: www.beagle2.com