News companies around the world are wild with excitement over the discovery of a Beagle on Mars. But it’s not the furry, food-loving, wet-nosed variety that Darwin knows. Rather, it is  the Beagle 2, a Mars probe sent to the Red Planet in 2003. A collaboration between British scientists and the European Space Agency, the probe’s name honours Charles Darwin’s ship.

“Beagle 2 replica” by user:geni – Photo by user:geni. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beagle_2_replica.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Beagle_2_replica.jpg

Unfortunately,  the Beagle 2 did not have successful landing. Contact was never established after the probe set down on Mars and the mission, like almost half of all Mars missions to date, appeared to be a failure. What happened to the probe was much speculated upon.

from: http://www.freakingnews.com/funny-pictures/beagle-pictures.asp

It took another Mars mission, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, with a high-resolution camera,  to solve the mystery.  Beagle 2 had actually safely touched down, but probably did not deploy one of its 4 solar panels properly.  Because the radio antenna sat behind this panel, it never could make contact with earth.

Nonetheless, some believe the probe has continued gathering and storing data.  If this data could be retrieved,  it would be invaluable.  Unfortunately,  the nearest help is almost 2900 km away (and is not even a mechanic). The NASA rover Curiosity is still active, trundling around on the Mars surface at a maximum speed of 4 cm per second. Even if NASA deigned to send the Curiosity forth, it would take more than 2 years to reach the Beagle 2.

Darwin thinks it is better to just let sleeping dogs lie. Knowing how Darwin is in the morning, we concur with him.

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