NASA rover may carry Beagle 2

THE scientist who led the Beagle 2 mission is pressing the US space agency NASA to take a new version of the British probe to Mars, it was revealed yesterday.

Professor Colin Pillinger is seeking an invitation to include the craft on an ambitious mission to land a giant nuclear-powered rover on the planet in 2009.

With characteristic cheek he has written a letter to NASA top brass and had a private word with the agency’s space exploration chief Admiral Craig Steidle.