Experts mull over Beagle's silence

A specialist team was today trying to work out why Britain’s Beagle 2 Mars probe has so far failed to make contact with Earth, after the latest efforts to communicate with the craft failed.

So far no signal has been received from Beagle 2 since it attempted to land on the red planet on Christmas Day.

The Analysis and Recovery Think Tank at the British National Space Centre in Leicester has been set up to thrash out theories and possible solutions.

A group of around 15 scientists and engineers are using a functioning scale model of the craft and a computer generated simulation to test possible reasons why the team has yet to receive a call sign message.

They are also testing the feasibility of sending “blind” command signals to the probe in a bid to rectify any potential communication problems, not knowing if they have been received.

However, such a strategy is not without considerable risk because any command may affect other processes taking place on the lander craft.

The team is facing an anxious seven days before January 4, when Beagle 2’s mother ship Mars Express will become available to start searching for the probe.

The Mars Express, now preparing to enter a polar orbit round Mars, has a 10-times better chance of communicating with Beagle 2 than Nasa’s Mars odyssey spacecraft, which is supposed to be relaying its weak signals to Earth.

Between now and then, conventional efforts will continue on a daily basis to contact Beagle 2 using the 250ft telescope at Jodrell Bank and a super-sensitive 150ft dish at Stanford University in California.

Scientists are also investigating whether the Parkes telescope in Sydney, Australia, has the appropriate detection equipment to join the hunt.

A telescope on the other side of the Earth would allow the search to continue at different times.

The Beagle 2 team has insisted that just because the Odyssey had not made contact, does not mean they have lost the craft.

A spokesman said they had anticipated this week might be a “dormant period” while they waited for the Mars Express to begin its search.

“In terms of attempting to contact Beagle 2, we have a series of Odyssey fly-bys over the next few days through to January 4,” the spokesman said. “Some days there are two, others there are just one, which do present an opportunity that might enable us to pick up a signal.

“But the primary focus is on January 4 when Mars Express comes on stream.

“We are still optimistic and we are not going to make any assumptions until we get that communication open with Mars Express.”