An Oasis

Blur on Beagle 2 Mission to Mars

Via The Guardian: The British led exploration of Mars will be accompanied by a nokia-ringtone-like composition, which is inspired by the Fibonacci sequence. The 9 note composition by Blur will be beamed back to Earth on a succesful Martian landing. Blur isn't the only cultural representative of Britain on the mission, Damien Hirst has created a spot painting which will be used to calibrate the Beagle's sensors and cameras. The painting consists of 16 multi-coloured spots on a 3in by 3in aluminium plate which will be bolted to the lander.

Beagle 2 is scheduled for launch, as part of the European Space Agency's Mars Express Mission, on June 2nd 2003 and is expected to land at 02:54 on December 25th. Beagle 2 is searching for evidence of past life on Mars and attempting to build a better picture of the environment on and around Mars.

The original Beagle (HMS Beagle) carried Charles Darwin in 1831 to Tiera del Fuego where his work led to publication of "On the Origin of Species."

Posted by Paul at May 17, 2003 08:30 PM |