Many people I’ve spoken to seem to have given up hope for the Beagle 2, but there’s no need. So far communication/detection attempts have been made through Mars Odyssey and the Jodrell Bank Observatory. Mars Odyssey was hit by a solar flare on 28 October, knocking out at least one instrument. The communications system was shut down temporarily, so it’s possible that some communications circuits have been damaged, explaining the silence from passes over the Beagle 2 landing site. The B2 team leaders have asked NASA to try to check MO is working correctly.
The Jodrell Bank Observatory telescope is trying to detect the equivalent of a mobile phone signal from Mars, and there was never any certainty this would be possible. “The Dish” at Stanford University is more sensitive and perhaps stands a better chance of detecting any emissions. An attempt using this will hopefully be made in the next few days.
Another possiblity is that the clock has been reset, so B2 is sending out messages at the wrong times. A clock reset signal has been sent via MO in an attempt to rectify this.
The best chance, however, will come on January 4th, when B2’s mother arrives. Mars Express and B2 were designed to talk to each other from the outset, and by the 4th B2 will be in “automatic transmission mode”, meaning it will be transmitting permanently. Hopes are high that if anything can establish communication, it’ll be Mars Express.
It’s going to be a painful wait until the 4th (if only we had wormcams), but I’m not giving up hope until Colin Pillinger says I should. Much of the above information is taken from this article.
Just after I posted this the Beagle 2 site updated with a wealth of information on current efforts (news article entitled “Communication Strategy of the Beagle 2 ‘Think Tank'” for after the main page is updated).
I forgot to mention that last night I caught the ‘Galileo’ episode of The West Wing (season 2 episode 9), which is particly relevant to the Beagle 2 mission. There’s an excellent defence of the ‘why bother going to Mars’ argument, which I’ve heard a few people stating in the last few days.
Krypto, thanks for the story, great information! I am starting to get Mars fever myself. Sunday night I will be glued to the TV watching MARS Dead or Alive on PBS, it sounds like a neat show about the construction of the two rovers with live updates on the status of the landing of Spirit in Gusev Crater.