The British-built space probe Beagle 2 has failed for a third night running to make contact with a giant telescope in west England confirming its safe arrival on Mars, the project’s organisers said on Sunday.
On the third night of trying, scientists were hoping that the telescope would pick up a radio signal from the spacecraft, which has also failed three times to communicate a message to Nasa’s Mars Odyssey orbiter.
”Tonight’s scan for a signal from Beagle 2 by the 250-foot [76m] Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire, United Kingdom, was unsuccessful,” said a statement from the organisers of the project.
Nasa’s Mars Odyssey orbiter has flown over Beagle 2‘s scheduled landing site daily from Christmas Day but has also failed to detect the expected signal — a nine-note tune composed by the British pop group Blur.
Beagle 2‘s mothership, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express, was placed in orbit around the red planet at around the same time as the probe was to have touched down at 2.54am GMT on Thursday.
At a press briefing on Saturday morning, Professor Colin Pillinger, Beagle 2‘s lead scientist, said the ESA orbiter had perhaps the best chance of contacting the probe from January 4 after it has completed a series of final manoeuvres.
”Mars Express is our primary route of communication. It’s the one we spent most of our time over the past five years testing,” Pillinger said.
The next attempt to hear from the Beagle 2, a sweep by Nasa’s Mars Odyssey, will take place at 6.57pm GMT on Sunday. — Sapa-AFP