Updates from NASA’s Rovers and ESA’s Mars Express

March 8, 2004  Darmstadt, Germany

European Space Agency (ESA)

Beagle 2 Video Shows Bright Object

European scientists said today they are examining a strange blot of an unidentified object in the same frame with its Beagle 2 Mars lander photographed right after the lander separated from its mothership. Beagle 2 was supposed to have landed and operated on December 25, 2003, but there has been only silence and its fate is unknown.

Mark Sims, ESA's Beagle 2 Mission Manager, is trying to figure out if an image of a bright spot on the shady side of the lander, and another bright spot on Beagle 2 are results of image processing or could be an event that might have affected Beagle 2's trajectory. Sims said, "The bright object and the glint on the side of Beagle 2 may be nothing, they may be everything."