TIM FURNISS / LONDON
Craft due to enter Martian atmosphere on 25 December and will transmit music to declare operational status
The UK's National Space Centre in Leicester is gearing up its Beagle 2 Mars lander operations, declaring its Lander Operation Control Centre operational in advance of Beagle 2's deployment from European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter last week.
The 68.8kg (152lb) Beagle probe, now separated from the orbiter, is following a ballistic trajectory towards the selected Mars landing site at Isidis Planitia, and will remain switched off for most of the remaining 3 million km (1.7 million miles) coast phase. It will power up a few hours before atmospheric entry scheduled for 25 December.
The craft, for which EADS Astrium is the prime contractor, will enter the Martian atmosphere at 21,000km/h (13,000mph), protected from the 1,600°C (2,910¡ °F) temperature by its heatshield. A pilot parachute will be deployed at 1,600km/h, and the main 10m (33ft) parachute will open at 335km/h. Seconds before the landing, the chute will be jettisoned and the craft will hit the surface at 58km/h, protected by an airbag system inflated at 200m altitude. The lander will then bounce across the surface for several minutes before coming to a stop at Isidis Planitia at about 11° north, 269.5° west.
Beagle 2 will open up, exposing a suite of instruments to begin observations about two days later, and will transmit music recorded by UK rock band Blur to signal its operational status. Its six instruments and two tools will help assess whether Mars' past or present environment was or is hospitable to biological evolution.
Beagle 2 is bidding to become only the fourth successful Mars lander, following Vikings 1 and 2 in 1976 and Mars Pathfinder in 1997.
Since a first Soviet failure in 1960, only 40% of Mars missions have succeeded. NASA's two Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Unity are scheduled to land on Mars in January.
Source: Flight International
