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Europe awaits landing of debut Mars probe, key orbiter maneuver

Posted on: Wednesday, 24 December 2003, 06:00 CST

DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) -- Europe's first Mars probe streaked toward a risky Christmas landing while ground controllers readied its trailing mother ship to enter Martian orbit in a maneuver critical to the success of the mission.

The 67-kilogram (143-pound) Beagle 2 turned loose Friday from the larger Mars Express orbiter on a course for the Red Planet, was due to land around 3:45 a.m. (0245 GMT) Thursday.

But officials at the European Space Agency's mission control center will have to wait at least several hours to see whether they're getting their present of an intact lander.

The first chance comes early Thursday when the U.S. Mars Odyssey spacecraft, already orbiting the planet, flies within range to relay a signal.

Working in tandem, the European probe and orbiter are meant to look for signs of past or present life on Mars.

Parachutes and gas bags were to cushion the lander's impact after its plunge through the thin Martian atmosphere.

Two minutes later, Mars Express was to fire its engine to slow it enough for Mars' gravity to pull it into orbit -- crucial for Beagle because the orbiter will relay the lander's data back to Earth.

Since separation, Beagle has neither received commands nor sent back data to mission control, a cluster of low buildings surrounded by snow-dusted woods at the edge of Darmstadt in western Germany,

If the NASA orbiter fails to pick up its signal, the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Britain will try to pick it up later Christmas Day.

Mars Express won't be able to make contact with Beagle until Jan. 3 because its initial orbit is too high and will have to be adjusted.

The fate of Mars Express will be uncertain for several hours as well, since its course will carry it behind Mars and controllers won't hear back from it until it comes out the other side.

Beagle, named for the ship that carried naturalist Charles Darwin on his voyage of discovery in the 1830s, is equipped with a robotic arm to sample surface rock and soil.

Mars Express is expected to orbit overheard for at least a Martian year, or 687 Earth days, probing as deep as four kilometers (2.5 miles) below the surface with a powerful radar to look for underground water. It will also map the surface with a high-resolution stereo camera.

Mars' surface is dry and cold, with ice caps of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice. Scientists believe that billions of years ago the planet may have been warmer and had enough liquid surface water to support life, which might have survived in cavities underground.

The planet's surface has features that some think could be dry riverbeds and ancient coastlines.

But getting a working spacecraft to Mars has proven frustratingly difficult. Of 34 unmanned American, Soviet and Russian missions to Mars since 1960, two-thirds have ended in failure.

The United States successfully landed two Viking craft in 1976 and Mars Pathfinder in 1997, but two years later lost the Mars Polar Lander during descent. Japan this month abandoned a Mars mission after failing to position the Nozomi probe on planetary orbit.

NASA's Spirit, one of two identical robot explorers, is expected to land Jan. 3. Its sibling, Opportunity, is scheduled to settle on the opposite side of the planet Jan. 24.

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