Scientists waiting to hear from Beagle 2 on Mars

[Baruti M. Kamau]

Scientists waiting to hear from Beagle 2 on Mars
Barutiwa News Service
Filed on December 29, 2003 @ 1:30 AM EDT

London, England (BNS) - AT the time of writing no one has heard from Beagle 2.  The small micro-like robotic spacecraft was scheduled to land on Mars several days ago.  "We need to get Beagle 2 into a period when it can broadcast for a much longer period," says Professor Colin Pillinger, Beagle 2 lead scientist. "This will happen around the 4th of January after the spacecraft has experienced a sufficient number of communication failures to switch to automatic transmission mode."  Both Professor Pillinger and Professor David Southwood, ESA Director of Science, agreed that the best chance to establish communication with Beagle 2 would now seem to be through Mars Express.

Scientists and engineers are eagerly awaiting the Mars Express spacecraft to fly close enough to Mars so an attempt to establish contact with Beagle 2 can be accomplished.  This is expected to happen on January 4, 2004.
------------
Distributed via EndeavorLink on telnet://endeavorlink.myip.us