An artist's rendition of the Mars Express spacecraft approaching Mars. The round, copper-colored object near the top of the spacecraft is the Beagle 2 lander. Click on image for full size (44K JPEG) Image courtesy European Space Agency (ESA) - Illustration by Medialab

The European Space Agency (ESA) launched a mission to Mars called "Mars Express" in June of 2003. The Mars Express spacecraft has two parts: an orbiter that will circle Mars for at least one Martian year (687 Earth days), and a lander named "Beagle 2" which is scheduled to touch down on the surface of the Red Planet on December 25, 2003.

One of the orbiter's main purposes is to search for water beneath the surface of Mars using a radar system called MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding). Scientists are very curious as to whether there might be life on Mars, and water deposits are a good place to look for living creatures. The surface of Mars is too cold and dry for water, but there may be water underground in aquifers. The Mars Express orbiter will also take high-resolution images to map Mars, will study the atmosphere of Mars, and will produce maps of the distribution of minerals on the surface of Mars.

Beagle 2 will land at a site named "Isidis Planitia" just north of the Martian equator. Isidis Planitia is a flat plain within an ancient impact crater that may once have contained a lake. The main chore of the Beagle 2 is to search for signs of life. Beagle 2 is not a rover, so it will only be able to examine the ground immediately around its landing site. It will scoop up samples of soil with a Position Adjustable Workbench (PAW) at the end of its robotic arm and chemically analyze those samples. Scientists hope Beagle 2 will find compounds that indicate the presence of living organisms. They will also analyze the mineral contents of the soil samples. ESA mission planners hope that Beagle 2 will be able to survive and conduct investigations on Mars for about six months.

Beagle 2 is named after the ship, the H.M.S. Beagle, which Charles Darwin sailed on shortly before he wrote his famous book about evolution and natural selection titled "On the Origin of Species". Darwin's book had a tremendous impact on our understanding of living creatures and profoundly influenced the science of biology. The scientists who planned the Mars Express mission hope to find signs of life on Mars, which would also be an important breakthrough in biology, so they named their lander after Darwin's ship.

This is a picture by an artist of the Mars Express spacecraft flying towards Mars. Click on image for full size (44K JPEG) Image courtesy European Space Agency (ESA) - Illustration by Medialab

The European Space Agency (ESA) launched a mission to Mars called "Mars Express" in June of 2003. The Mars Express spacecraft has two parts: an orbiter that will circle the Red Planet for at least one Martian year (687 Earth days), and a lander named "Beagle 2" which is scheduled to touch down on the surface of the Mars on December 25, 2003.

Scientists are searching for water on Mars because they think that if they find water that would be the best place to look for life. Mars Express has a radar that can look through rock. Scientists hope to find water underground on Mars using the Mars Express' radar. The spacecraft will also take pictures of Mars and study the Martian atmosphere.

The Beagle 2 lander will try to find life on the surface of Mars. It has a robotic arm that will scoop up soil. It will find out what kinds of chemicals are in the soil. Some types of chemicals are mostly made by living creatures. If Beagle 2 finds those types of chemicals it will have strong evidence that it might have found life. Beagle 2 will land in a flat area called "Isidis Planitia" that is inside an old crater. There may have been a lake inside the crater many years ago.

Beagle 2 is named after a famous ship, the H.M.S. Beagle. A scientist named Charles Darwin sailed on the H.M.S. Beagle in the mid-1800s. Darwin was one of the first scientists to explain how evolution works. The theory of evolution is very important in the science of biology. If scientists find life on Mars with the Beagle 2, that would be a very important discovery for the science of biology, too. That is why the Mars Express mission planners decided to name their lander after Darwin's ship.

This is a picture by an artist of the Mars Express spacecraft flying towards Mars. Click on image for full size (44K JPEG) Image courtesy European Space Agency (ESA) - Illustration by Medialab

The European Space Agency (ESA) launched a mission to Mars in June of 2003. The mission is called "Mars Express". The Mars Express spacecraft has two parts. One part will orbit Mars for at least one Martian year. A year on Mars lasts 687 Earth days, so it is longer than a year on Earth. The second part of Mars Express is a lander named "Beagle 2". Beagle 2 is supposed to land on Mars on Christmas day in 2003.

Mars Express is looking for life on Mars. Scientists don't know whether Mars has life or not. If Mars does have life, it is probably some kind of microbe that lives in water. So scientists are looking for water on Mars. Mars doesn't have any lakes, rivers, or seas. But Mars might have water underground. Mars Express has a radar that can look through rocks. Scientists hope to find water underground with that radar.

The Beagle 2 lander will look for life on the surface of Mars. It has a robot arm that will scoop up dirt. It will check the dirt for chemicals that might have been made by living things. Beagle 2 will land in a flat area called "Isidis Planitia" that is inside an old crater. There may have been a lake inside the crater many years ago.

Beagle 2 is named after a famous ship called the H.M.S. Beagle. A scientist named Charles Darwin sailed on the H.M.S. Beagle about 170 years ago. Darwin helped invent a theory called evolution that explains a lot about how life works. Scientists hope to find out a lot about life if they discover life on Mars. So the Mars Express team named their lander Beagle 2 in honor of Darwin's ship.