Beagle Begins Last Phase of Mars Mission

A British spacecraft the size of an open umbrella began the final leg of its mission to find life on Mars as it successfully broke free Friday from the ship that carried it from Earth.

Beagle 2 parted from the Mars Express rocket and set off alone to cover the remaining distance to the Red Planet, where it should parachute down on Christmas morning and start broadcasting a tune by the Britpop band Blur.

In the intervening days, the spacecraft will be out of touch with Earth because the radio it carries is too small to cover the distance.

“We can confirm that we have Beagle 2 separation,” said Mike McKay, flight director of the mission, talking to a gathering of scientists in London.

The first sign scientists will have of the success or failure of the project will be when either Mars Express or the U.S. probe Mars Odyssey picks up the Blur tune.

The Beagle 2 has state-of-the-art scientific instruments that will scrape, bore and bake samples from the surface of Mars in a search for signs that there was once life on the planet.

At its heart is a mass spectrometer used to measure the mass and abundance of atoms and molecules on planetary surfaces.

But there are many potential pitfalls, from the dust storms swirling over the planet to the early or late deployment of the balloons that must slow the descent of the 75-pound probe through the Martian atmosphere to 40 mph.

If Beagle 2 succeeds it will be a miracle of British improvisation, having taken just six years and $80 million from conception in the southern English town of Milton Keynes to blastoff from Russia and landing on Mars.