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."

FMI: www.beagle2.com