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European space engineers position Mars Express to drop probe toward

Posted on: Thursday, 18 December 2003, 06:00 CST

DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) -- European space controllers positioned the Mars Express spacecraft in preparation for a critical step in their mission to explore the Red Planet -- the launching of a probe designed to search the Martian surface for organic matter and water.

If all goes well, the Beagle 2 will push off from the Mars Express and be sent on its way at 9:31 a.m. (0831 GMT) Friday. The British-built probe should land on the surface of the Red Planet roughly six days later.

Engineers at the European Space Agency's mission control in Darmstadt, in western Germany, expect to confirm the Beagle 2's launch at around 1031 GMT.

The probe's launch is the first in a series of critical navigational maneuvers on which the success of the mission depends.

Officials say the launch consists of having the spacecraft gently push away the probe and setting it spinning to keep it stable as it heads toward Mars. Early on Dec. 25, the lander is expected to reach Mars' surface.

At the same time, mission engineers plan to position the Mars Express craft to fire its main engine for about 30 minutes, sending it into Martian orbit.

Should Friday's attempt to drop the lander fail, it would disrupt the timing of efforts to put Mars Express into orbit, and possibly doom the mission, project manager Rudolf Schmidt said.

``If we get the timing wrong, the spacecraft could burn up in the atmosphere or miss Mars altogether,'' Schmidt said in a statement. ``We just get one single chance.''

The Mars Explorer, which cost about US$345 million, is an attempt to demonstrate that Europe can have an effective -- and relatively inexpensive -- space exploration program.

Launched atop a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket from the Baiknour cosmodrome in Kazakhstan June 2, Mars Express has weathered solar eruptions that bombarded it with high-energy particles, temporarily disrupting its computers, as well as an unexpected drop in electrical power.

The 65-kilogram (143-pound) Beagle 2 -- named for the ship that carried naturalist Charles Darwin on his voyage of discovery in the 1830s -- 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 -- planned for one Martian year, or 687 Earth days -- engineers hope 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.

Previous attempts to find signs of life have been inconclusive. Of 34 unmanned American, Soviet and Russian missions to Mars since 1960, two-thirds ended in failure. In 1976, twin U.S. Viking landers searched for life but sent back inconclusive results.

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.

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On the Net:

Mars Express:

European Space Agency: www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars--Express/SEMTERWLDMD--0.html

Beagle 2: www.beagle2.com

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