Search For Life On Red Planet Begins Christmas Morning

As the European Mars lander Beagle 2 speeds toward the surface of the Red Planet, the lander's mothership, Mars Express, completed a critical orbital insertion maneuver Saturday, designed to put it in orbit.

It apparently worked.

"Everything went normally and took place in a good atmosphere," European Space Agency spokesman Bernard von Weyhe said. "We are looking forward to getting Mars Express into final orbit."

If there was any celebration, it was short-lived. There's just too much work to do at the European Space Agency's mission control center in the western German town of Darmstadt. Less than an hour later, controllers went to work on the next set of maneuvers designed to park the spacecraft in its final orbit.

Mars Express will orbit 250 miles above the surface as the Beagle 2 lander will parachute through the thin Martian atmosphere on Christmas day. As it approaches the surface, airbags positioned on the outside of the lander will inflate, cushioning the payload from the shock of landing.

Beagle 2 weighs a mere 143 pounds. Once on the surface, it will deploy its robot arm to collect soil samples, then search those samples for signs of life -- organic materials and water.

The orbit around Mars is becoming a busy place. Next month, two NASA landers are expected to touch down on the surface of the red planet, concentrating not on the search for life, but on the Martian geography and the possibility of finding water. In the meantime, a third US spacecraft continues to circle Mars, mapping its surface in detail.

FMI: www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express, http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/default.html