Space Probe to Be Ejected Towards Mars

European space controllers were positioning their space craft for a critical step in their mission to explore Mars – ejection of a probe in the direction of the Red Planet, where it is to land on Christmas Day.

The British-built Beagle 2 probe was scheduled to be released at 3:31 a.m. EST Friday from the Mars Express spacecraft in the first in a series of critical navigational maneuvers on which the success of the European Space Agency’s mission depends.

Should Friday’s attempt to drop the lander fail, it would disrupt the timing of efforts to put Mars Express into orbit, spelling doom for the mission.

“If we get the timing wrong, the spacecraft could burn up in the atmosphere or miss Mars altogether,” Mars Express project manager, Rudolf Schmidt, said in a statement. “We just get one single chance.”

Engineers at the agency’s mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, expected to confirm whether they were able to successfully drop the Beagle 2 from the Mars Express craft two hours after its release. The ejection consists of having the spacecraft gently push away the lander, which will spin to keep it stable as it heads toward Mars.

Early on Dec. 25, the lander is expected to reach the surface of Mars. At the same time, engineers plan to position the Mars Express craft to fire its main engine for about 30 minutes, sending it into orbit.

Mars Express, launched June 2 atop a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Kazakhstan, has weathered solar eruptions that bombarded it with high-energy particles last month, temporarily disrupting its computers, and reducing electrical power.

The 143-pound Beagle 2 will use a robotic arm to gather and sample rocks for evidence of organic matter and water, while Mars Express orbits overhead.

During its working life – currently planned for one Martian year, or 687 Earth days – it’s hoped the Mars Express will send back detailed overhead pictures of the Martian surface and use a powerful radar to scan for underground water.

Scientists think Mars, which still has frozen water in its ice caps, might have once had liquid water and appropriate conditions for life but lost it billions of years ago. It is thought water may also still exist as underground ice.

Of the 34 unmanned American, Soviet and Russian missions to Mars since 1960, two-thirds have ended in failure.

Earlier this month, Japan was forced to abandon its troubled mission to Mars after five years, when officials failed in their attempts to position their Nozomi probe on course to orbit the planet.

U.S. officials are discussing a new course of space exploration, and debate has focused on whether the United States should set its sights on returning to the moon or landing on Mars.