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.

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) will be almost five times heavier than the two NASA rovers now on the surface of Mars.

It will be lowered onto the ground by a “skycrane” from a hovering platform and will have the endurance to keep roving for years.

Prof Pillinger yesterday said including Beagle on the MSL was one option being looked at by him and his team.

Ideally, he would prefer to see an all European, or even solely British, mission.

But speaking yesterday at the launch of a new report into the failure of the Beagle 2 lander, he admitted to being frustrated by the lack of progress at the European Space Agency.