Mars Express: no signal from Beagle 2 so far (Forwarded)

European Space Agency
Press Release No. 4-2004
Paris, France 7 January 2004

Mars Express: no signal from Beagle 2 so far

ESA's Mars Express orbiter made its first attempt to establish contact with the
Beagle 2 lander, after the two spacecraft separated on 19 December 2003.

The orbiter made its first pass over the Beagle 2 landing site today at 13:13
CET [1213 UTC], but could not pick up any signal from the tiny lander. More
attempts to contact Beagle 2 are planned in the days to come.

Beagle 2 was released on 19 December on a course towards the Red Planet by Mars
Express, the mothership for the 400 million kilometre interplanetary cruise. Six
days later it entered the Martian atmosphere and should have landed on the
near-equatorial site of Isidis Planitia. Since then, attempts to communicate
with the lander through NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter and radio telescopes on
Earth have been unsuccessful.

The Mars Express orbiter successfully entered Mars orbit at about the same time
as Beagle 2's landing. Then, in early January, it made a series of planned
manoeuvres to change its equatorial orbit to a polar one, to prepare for its
scientific mission and to make contact with Beagle 2.

Unlike Mars Odyssey and the radio telescopes, Mars Express has a communication
system that was fully tested to contact Beagle 2, which gives ESA more
confidence of picking up the signal in the coming days.

"We have not lost hope yet to contact Beagle 2, but we also know that it has
landed on an unforgiving planet," said David Southwood, ESA's Director of
Science. "There are still opportunities to make contact with Beagle in the days
to come, and we are giving our best efforts. Nevertheless, our spacecraft Mars
Express has now reached its operational orbit and is working well; I know the
science community is eagerly waiting for its first results."

Further information:

ESA Media Relations Service
Tel: +33.(0)1.5369.7155
Fax: +33.(0)1.5369.7690

More about ...

* Europe goes to Mars
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/index.html
* Mars Express overview
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120379_index_0_m.html

Related articles

* The search for life
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMAGE1P4HD_exploring_0.html
* Crucial moments on the way to Mars
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Exp...Z0UZJND_0.html
* A giant step for Europe: An interview with Michael McKay
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMZSOXLDMD_people_0_iv.html

IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMZ..._index_1.html]
A view of the ESOC control room in Darmstadt, Germany. Pictured on 7 January
2004 during the Mars Express mission.