THE team building the Beagle 2 Mars lander promised last week to have their spacecraft ready for launch on time, despite fears that the project is running late and could miss its crucial launch window next year.
Beagle 2 is being built in Britain by a team at the Open University to piggyback on the European Space Agency鈥檚 Mars Express mission when it launches in June. Mars Express and its payload of seven advanced analytical instruments will orbit Mars for two years.
But at a meeting in Toulouse last week, the ESA鈥檚 director of science David Southwood said he is concerned over Beagle 2鈥檚 progress. 鈥淚n recent weeks I believe they have had to find more money,鈥� he said of the 拢30 million lander. 鈥淚f they don鈥檛 meet our requirements, they won鈥檛 fly.鈥�
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He stressed that the Mars Express launch will not be delayed and that the craft would, if necessary, leave without Beagle 2. But Colin Pillinger, who heads the Beagle 2 project, is adamant the probe will fly. 鈥淲e will deliver Beagle 2 to the launch tower on schedule,鈥� Pillinger told New Scientist. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we are going to let this chance to go to Mars pass.鈥�
The relative orbits of Earth and Mars in June 2003 will provide the best opportunity to reach Mars for 17 years. If Beagle 2 is to make the trip, it must be delivered to the Mars Express launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, by January.
Pillinger refused to discuss funding, citing the interests of private investors in the mission. But he added: 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 a space mission on the planet that hasn鈥檛 at some stage of its gestation had to overcome problems.鈥�
Beagle 2 is designed to detach from Mars Express and parachute down to the Red Planet, carrying a set of giant air bags to cushion its landing. Once on Martian soil, it will deploy its instruments on a robot arm to analyse the surface near the landing site for signs of water and past or present life. The instruments will include stereoscopic cameras, dust and temperature sensors, and a device to burrow into the planet鈥檚 surface.
Ironically, Beagle 2鈥檚 potential troubles have surfaced as it emerges that the spacecraft could be the cleanest man-made object ever to fly in space, adds James Randerson. One reason the craft has proved so difficult to prepare on time is that it has to be completely sterile, as Earth bacteria could give false positives in its search for Martian life.
Sterilising Beagle 2 is tough because it is so small and light. NASA鈥檚 much heavier 1997 Pathfinder probe, for example, was made from sturdier materials that could easily be heat-treated 鈥� but this isn鈥檛 an option for Beagle 2. Each component is sterilised separately before being sealed inside a 鈥渂ioshield鈥�.