New Scientist SPACE - Europe's new Mars probe to banish ghost of Beagle 2 - by Hazel Muir

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Europe's new Mars probe to banish ghost of Beagle 2 - by Hazel Muir

Europe is gearing up to send another probe to the surface of Mars. At a press conference in London, UK, on Monday, scientists outlined their ambitions for the ExoMars mission, which will look for chemical signs of life, past or present, on the Martian surface. The UK will be a major contributor to ExoMars, due for launch in 2011. If successful, it would heal some disappointment over the failure of the British Beagle 2 lander in 2003. “The UK is actively preparing to return to Mars,” said John Zarnecki, a planetary scientist from the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK. The European Space Agency mission will send a spacecraft to the Martian surface with a rover folded inside. After a two-year journey, the spacecraft will use parachutes, retrorockets and airbags to land softly on the Red Planet. Then it will set the rover free. The ExoMars rover will be more autonomous than NASA’s robots, Spirit and Opportunity. Stereoscopic cameras and software will allow it to identify intriguing rocks and navigate routes to them. That means it will not always have to wait for commands from Earth, which lies up to 22 light minutes away from Mars.