EU prepares for date with destiny as Mars Express races towards Red Planet

Date: 26/06/03

As long as mankind has observed Mars, the question of whether life could exist there has held a fascination. The EU's first mission to another planet may provide an answer

MARK the time and date in your diary - 2.45am on Christmas Day 2003.

That is when Mars Express is due its date with destiny.

At that precise moment, Europe's first spacecraft sent to another planet, or more precisely, Beagle 2, the British probe which has "hitched a lift" with it, will fall to the surface of Mars, protected by a parachute and airbags. Beagle 2 will analyze soil and rock in a bid to discover potential signs of life on the Red Planet.

It will then set about attempting to answer one of the biggest questions of all time - is there life beyond Earth?

Sir Patrick Moore, the renowned British astronomer, trembles with emotion at the thought of what may be found. "The most exciting thing will be if they find any trace of life. Out of all the stars in the galaxy, if we have life on Mars and here on Earth, then it can appear anywhere," he said.

The two spacecraft are actually pioneering a series of European encounters around the solar system.

A joint US-European mission called Cassini-Huygens took off six years ago and will arrive at Saturn in 2004 to prepare for a landing on Titan, the largest of the planet's 15 moons. Another spacecraft, Smart-1, will use British instruments to explore Earth's moon.

Other plans include Venus Express, which will explore the tempestuous skies of the second planet from the sun, and a mission to observe the sun itself with a new European orbiter.

Between now and next April, the European Space Agency (ESA) will also be sending two European astronauts, a Spaniard and a Dutchman, to link up with the International Space Station.

In addition, European engineers are working on a mission to Mercury, the planet nearest the Sun, and steering a European spacecraft, Rosetta, onto a comet.

But that will not happen for another 11 years and, for now, Mars Express and Beagle 2 have stolen the limelight.

On 2 June, it was sent hurtling into space with a spot painting by the British artist Damien Hirst - which also acts as a colour calibration chart for its cameras - and a call-sign composed by the pop band Blur.

While Beagle 2 - named after the ship that took anthropologist Charles Darwin into the history books - gets to work on the surface of Mars, its mother ship will be scanning the plane from above.

For David Southwood, ESA's director of science, Europe's mission to the Red Planet is the realization of a lifetime's ambition.

"We've done all we can to make it a success but, right now, I am worried sick something will go wrong. I don't mind admitting I will feel an awful lot happier come Christmas Day when it is scheduled to land," he said.

The fascination with life on Mars is no recent phenomenon. In the 18th century, telescope pioneer Sir William Herschel believed he observed oceans on Mars, and speculated that Martians "probably enjoy a situation similar to our own".

A hundred years later, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli described the channels of Mars as "canali" and, because of a clumsy translation, inadvertently invented the myth of Martian canals.

What we definitely do know about Mars is that, although it is a small planet - its diamater is a little over half of the Earth's - it boasts scenery on a scale that makes Mount Everest and the Grand Canyon seem unimpressive by comparison.

It has the highest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, which rises 25km above the surrounding plain: Mount Everest is only one-third as high.

The US Viking mission, 27 years ago, however, appeared to end the debate about life on Mars. The planet appeared too cold and arid to support any living thing.

But all life seems to need is water and a source of energy, and Mars appears to be a planet that was once covered with rivers, lakes and seas.

"Mars is, in a sense, the Earth's little brother," says Southwood, "but it sure didn't grow up as well as Earth.

"It has lost its atmosphere somewhere along the way and yet it is not so far from us that we shouldn't regard it as the place most like our own planet."

That is why, despite a history of failed attempts, space scientists at ESA, the Paris-based organization set up by the EU's 15 member states, are still trying to learn more about Mars.

Three weeks after it was launched from Kazakhstan on a Soyuz-Fregat rocket, Mars Express is now speeding towards the Red Planet at a speed of 41,000 kph, having already covered more than 32.2 million kilometres.

During the seven-month voyage, as it flys in cruise mode, ESA scientists will monitor its progress by radio just once a day.

Rock superstar David Bowie once had a hit with the question, but, really, what are the chances of there being life on Mars?

"I regard myself as a pretty intelligent sort of guy who isn't given to hype," says Southwood, "but, in the solar system, there are only one or two planets where life could've existed.

"After Earth, the next best bet is Mars so, yes, it seems very likely there was once life there."

On Christmas Day 2003 Mars express will drop Beagle 2 onto the surface of Mars in the EU's first ever spacecraft mission to another planet.

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=9 http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=9

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