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Europe's Bid to Contact Mars Beagle 2 Probe Fails

Posted on: Sunday, 11 January 2004, 06:00 CST

LONDON (AP) -- The European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter failed to contact the Beagle 2 probe in its latest attempt on Saturday, British scientists said.

Mars Express flew over Beagle's designated landing site on Mars at about 1404 GMT but heard no signal, mission scientists said.

Hopes of finding the British-built lander, which was due to touch down on the Red Planet on Christmas Day, are fading fast.

Scientists said Mars Express would make another pass over the landing site early on Monday and would listen for a signal. After that, the orbiter will move to less advantageous communicating position.

Beagle 2 has not been heard from since it separated from the mothership in mid-December, despite contact efforts by Mars Express, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter and British and U.S. radio telescopes.

The diminutive, 143-pound lander was equipped with a mechanical arm to sample Martian soil and rocks.

Mars Express will orbit the planet for at least one Martian year - almost two Earth years - using its radar to search for signs of water or ice which may once have sustained living organisms.

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