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."

FMI: www.esa.int