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CNN Live At Daybreak
Beagle 2 Mission to Mars
Aired December 26, 2003 - 06:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: European space experts are still waiting, waiting for a signal from their Beagle 2 mission to Mars. It's a combined effort of NASA and the European Space Agency.
CNN's Gaven Morris is live in London with the latest -- any sign of the Beagle yet?
GAVEN MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, unfortunately not. It's a bit like E.T. trying to phone home and not having much luck. That's what's going on at the moment.
The Beagle is out there. It headed for Mars. It was due to land some time very early yesterday morning. But so far there is no sign of it.
Now, that's very disappointing for all the European scientists involved with this, because this really was a historic mission for them. They've sent a rocket up to Mars, they've successfully put it into orbit as a satellite and they'd launched the Beagle towards the red planet and it was -- everything was on course.
But in the last 24 hours, really, they've lost contact with the Beagle. They've had two opportunities to hear from it and they haven't at all. So a fairly disappointing end, though the scientists say that there are 13 more opportunities in the coming days to try and track the Beagle down.
Now, what was the Beagle doing on Mars? Well, it is there to try and find any signs of life, whether it be former life or present life, to see if we're alone in the universe. So, a very important function, very important experiments that the Beagle was going to do. And unless it turns up, Fredricka, in the next couple of days, the scientists, I think, are going to get very pessimistic that the crucial point of the mission may have failed -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So, Gaven, if they don't get any contact from it in the next couple of days they're going to essentially call it a bust?
MORRIS: Not really. They have an ongoing window of opportunity. The Beagle lasts for about 180 days. That's how much battery it has got. And over the next several days and leading into January, they've got many opportunities, 13 of them, to try and get in touch with Beagle.
Now, after that, if they can't get in touch, I'm sure they will keep trying, because a lot of effort and a lot of money has gone into this project. But the further you go away from here and the less they hear from it, I think the more pessimistic they'll get -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Yikes. All right, that's not very encouraging at all.
All right, thanks a lot, Gaven Morris from London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 26, 2003 - 06:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: European space experts are still waiting, waiting for a signal from their Beagle 2 mission to Mars. It's a combined effort of NASA and the European Space Agency.
CNN's Gaven Morris is live in London with the latest -- any sign of the Beagle yet?
GAVEN MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, unfortunately not. It's a bit like E.T. trying to phone home and not having much luck. That's what's going on at the moment.
The Beagle is out there. It headed for Mars. It was due to land some time very early yesterday morning. But so far there is no sign of it.
Now, that's very disappointing for all the European scientists involved with this, because this really was a historic mission for them. They've sent a rocket up to Mars, they've successfully put it into orbit as a satellite and they'd launched the Beagle towards the red planet and it was -- everything was on course.
But in the last 24 hours, really, they've lost contact with the Beagle. They've had two opportunities to hear from it and they haven't at all. So a fairly disappointing end, though the scientists say that there are 13 more opportunities in the coming days to try and track the Beagle down.
Now, what was the Beagle doing on Mars? Well, it is there to try and find any signs of life, whether it be former life or present life, to see if we're alone in the universe. So, a very important function, very important experiments that the Beagle was going to do. And unless it turns up, Fredricka, in the next couple of days, the scientists, I think, are going to get very pessimistic that the crucial point of the mission may have failed -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So, Gaven, if they don't get any contact from it in the next couple of days they're going to essentially call it a bust?
MORRIS: Not really. They have an ongoing window of opportunity. The Beagle lasts for about 180 days. That's how much battery it has got. And over the next several days and leading into January, they've got many opportunities, 13 of them, to try and get in touch with Beagle.
Now, after that, if they can't get in touch, I'm sure they will keep trying, because a lot of effort and a lot of money has gone into this project. But the further you go away from here and the less they hear from it, I think the more pessimistic they'll get -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Yikes. All right, that's not very encouraging at all.
All right, thanks a lot, Gaven Morris from London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
