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Landing Site for British Mars Mission Selected
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 09:39 am ET
21 December 2000
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beagle_landing_001220 WASHINGTON -- Britain's Beagle 2 Mars lander is being targeted to land at a site where traces of life might be preserved. The European Space Agency (ESA) announced Wednesday that the spunky Beagle 2 would land on Isidis Planitia, a large flat region that overlies the boundary between ancient highlands and the northern plains. The landing site pick was finalized last week at a meeting of the Mars Express science working team that met in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Beagle 2 is to be deployed from ESA's Mars Express spacecraft that is slated to begin orbiting the planet in late 2003. Mars Express is to be launched on Starsem's Soyuz-Fregat launcher in June 2003 from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A launch window to rocket the spacecraft to Mars is open from June 1 until June 11, 2003.Starsem, whose shareholders include Aerospatiale Matra (35 percent), Arianespace (15 percent), the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (25 percent) and the Samara Space Center (25 percent), is responsible for commercializing and providing launch services with the Soyuz family of launchers. Right on the spot John Bridges from the Natural History Museum, London, who is tasked to help sift through potential Beagle 2 landing sites, said the Isidis Planitia is the best spot for Beagle 2 given landing constraints and the scientific aims of the lander. Beagle's aim is to settle the question of whether life exists, or has ever existed, on the Red Planet According to information provided by ESA, Isidis Planitia is a site warm enough for Beagle 2 to function properly during early spring, the season at which it is due to land on Mars. 
The British-built Beagle 2 will tote a microscope to Mars. Images taken by spacecraft flying over the landing zone show it somewhat free of rocks that could threaten a safe landing. The site is also at a low enough elevation to allow the parachutes sufficient atmosphere to brake the lander's descent. Airbag landing The Beagle 2 is to use airbags as a landing system, similar to those used in the Mars Pathfinder mission in 1997. Large gas-filled bags will protect Beagle 2 as it bounces to a halt. Its clam-like outer casing will spring open, its solar panels will unfold and on-board instruments will begin operating.Beagle 2 will plunge into the pre-selected area that is presently 311 miles (500 kilometers) long by 62 miles (100 kilometers) wide. The true size of the ellipse will depend on the angle at which the probe will enter the Martian atmosphere, which has not yet been determined.
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