December 20, 2003: Christmas On Mars

The European Space Agency's Beagle 2 will land on Mars on Christmas Day. Named after the ship Charles Darwin took on his expedition to the Galapagos, the ESA probe's mission is to look for signs on life – past or present – on and beneath the surface of the Red Planet.

Science@NASA has the story. And if you want to know more about Mars (and maybe even do a little roleplaying in the setting), you could do worse than to check out Transhuman Space: In The Well and GURPS Mars.

Update!

The lander successfully separated from the main vehicle Friday -- NewScientist.com has the story.

-- Scott Haring

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