Scientists anxiously await sign that Mars probe landed safely

LONDON (AP) — Scientists anxiously awaited a sign Sunday that Europe’s first Mars probe had landed safely on the Red Planet — hoping that powerful radio telescopes would pick up transmissions from the Beagle 2 craft.

Britain’s vast radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory has so far failed to detect the probe, which was supposed to touch down on Christmas Day.

The European team says it has also asked Stanford University, California, and Sydney University, Australia to lend their huge radio telescopes to the hunt.

“We’re going to keep going until every possibility has been exhausted,” said Alan Wells, a member of the team at Britain’s National Space Center.

The British-built Beagle was turned loose by its mother ship Mars Express more than a week ago to begin its search for life on the Martian surface.

But efforts to pick up a signal from the probe — twice using the Jodrell telescope and in three overflights by NASA’s orbiting Mars Odyssey — have failed. Odyssey is scheduled to make another pass over the spot where scientists believe Beagle landed shortly before 1900 GMT Sunday.

But the team believes Mars Express offers the best hope of contacting Beagle, once it enters its correct orbit on Jan. 4.

“We reckon our best chance of a communication … is to wait until Mars Express is available for use,” chief Beagle scientist Colin Pillinger told a news conference in London.

Mars Express was designed to beam back data gathered by Beagle, and Pillinger said its communications were specifically set up to hear the probe’s transmissions.

In the coming days, controllers must change its orbit from a high elliptical one around the equator to a lower polar orbit that will let it establish contact with the probe.

“We haven’t yet played all our cards,” said David Southwood, the European Space Agency’s director of science. “The baby, we believe, is down on the surface and the mother is very anxious to get in touch.

“With Mars Express we will be using a system that we have fully tested and understand,” Southwood added. “I’m not writing it off right now and I don’t think anyone should. We’re hanging in there.”

The scientists have maintained an optimistic line in the face of repeated disappointment and hope the probe touched down safely, aided by a parachute and cushioning gas bags.

The 67-kilogram (143-pound) Beagle, shaped like an oversized pocket watch, was supposed to unfold its solar panels and transmit a signal confirming its arrival within hours of landing.

Scientists believe the probe may have landed off course in an area where communication is difficult. They say its antenna may not be pointing in the direction of Odyssey and also fear Beagle’s onboard clock has suffered a glitch, resulting in the probe sending signals at the wrong times.

Getting a working spacecraft to Mars has proven frustratingly difficult. Several vehicles, most recently NASA’s 1999 Mars Polar Lander, have been lost on landing. The Soviet Mars-3 lander touched down safely in 1971 but failed after sending data for only 20 seconds.

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

Beagle has robotic arm to take soil and rock samples, including a grinder to clean weathered surfaces and a drill to probe inside rocks.

Mars Express is expected to orbit overhead 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.

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On the Net:

Mars Express: www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars–Express/index.html

Beagle 2: www.beagle2.com