The Making of Beagle 2: "On Christmas Day, if all goes as planned, the Beagle 2 -- a small, pocket-watch-shaped laboratory that is Europe's first planetary explorer - will bounce to a stop somewhere in a big crater on Mars, pop itself open and announce its arrival with a rockin' little refrain by British rock band Blur, as its cameras and spectrometers calibrate themselves to the vibrant colors of a painting by contemporary artist Damien Hirst, and as its mothership, Mars Express, positions itself into a polar orbit.
Dubbed the 'hippest ever venture to another planet,' the Beagle 2 has already captured the imagination of Europe, especially Britain, where it was conceived and born. Although too few Americans have even heard of the Beagle 2, this puppy has all the makings of a star among the likes of NASA's Sojourner, only with a colorful backstory that may well turn out to be among the most remarkable in space exploration history."
Dubbed the 'hippest ever venture to another planet,' the Beagle 2 has already captured the imagination of Europe, especially Britain, where it was conceived and born. Although too few Americans have even heard of the Beagle 2, this puppy has all the makings of a star among the likes of NASA's Sojourner, only with a colorful backstory that may well turn out to be among the most remarkable in space exploration history."
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