Thu, Mar 11, 2004
Scientists May Have Spotted Britain's Probe
Beagle 2, the British space probe which disappeared as it
descended toward Mars, may have been detected on the surface of the
Red Planet, scientists said on Tuesday. No signal has been received
from the craft since it was due to land on Christmas Day last year,
despite various attempts by Mars orbiters and telescopes on Earth
to make contact. But photographic images of the area where Beagle 2
was to have come down show four bright spots, dubbed a "string of
pearls" by scientists, which may be the remains of the probe.
"It could be the lander with its airbags and parachute," said
Lutz Richter from the German Aerospace Center, who helped plan the
mission. "But...it is nothing conclusive whatsoever."
Professor Colin Pillinger, the British scientist in charge of
the Beagle 2 project, told a conference at the Royal Society in
London he doubted the image was in fact the probe and was more
likely to be "system noise" -- an error on the image. The
conference, which was called to discuss the lessons learned from
the Beagle 2 mission, also heard that eight to 13 percent of the
probe's suspected landing area was littered with craters and hills,
making a safe landing difficult. But Pillinger defended the
decision to land the craft there.
"We chose the best landing space we could within the constraints
put on us. Scientifically it gave us the best chance," he said.
The Open University professor of planetary research also
lamented the lack of funding for the project and the fact that the
European Space Agency (ESA) mission was primarily aimed at putting
the Mars Express in orbit rather than landing a craft on the
planet's surface. A NASA mission to Mars landed two probes on the
planet in January which have sent back revealing pictures of the
planet's surface. Pillinger also said he had received letters from
dog owners informing him the choice of name for the probe was
unfortunate.
"Beagles are notoriously difficult to control when let off the
leash," he said. "Perhaps Beagle 2 will surface when he is
hungry."
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