Beagle 2 and Beyond
by Professor Colin Pillinger FRS
Tuesday 06 July 2004
4 Hamilton Place, London
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Beagle 2 and Beyondby Professor Colin Pillinger FRSTuesday 06 July 20044 Hamilton Place, London |
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Beagle 2, a British space probe, was due to land on Mars at 2.54am on Christmas Day, but it did not send out its landing signal, and subsequent attempts to communicate have failed. Join Colin Pillinger, creator of Beagle 2, for a fascinating insight into the mission, the future of Mars exploration and why a clam shaped space-lander had the world in suspense.
Beagle 2 is a 60 kg spacecraft named to honour the ship which carried Charles Darwin on the five year voyage of discovery which led to the writing of "On the Origin of Species". Beagle 2 was launched on 2 June 2003 and carried on board a mass spectrometer designed and built by Professor Pillinger's team - this would have investigated six criteria to reveal whether life processes have occurred on another planet, first step in answering the question "Are we alone in the Universe?"
Professor Colin Pillinger has spent much of the last five years championing the Beagle 2 project, the British-led effort to land on Mars to seek evidence for past and present life. The dream of a successful Mars landing on Christmas Day 2003 may be over, but project leader Colin Pillinger remains undaunted.
Join him at the Royal Aeronautical Society as he discusses the scientific and emotional legacy of Beagle 2 and Mars Express and his plans for a new voyage to the Red Planet.
| PROGRAMME | ||
| 17:00 |
Doors open: Opportunity for networking. Full size model of Beagle 2 on display - courtesy of EADS Astrium |
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| 18:00 | Refreshments: Tea and biscuits. | |
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18:30 |
Welcome: |
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Presentation by Prof Colin Pillinger: Beagle 2 and Beyond |
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| 20:30 | Further opportunity for networking. (Cash bar). | |
| Colin will be signing (and selling) copies of his recent book "Beagle: From Darwin's Epic Voyage to the British Expedition to Mars". | ||
Previous lecture by Colin Pillinger 28 February 2001...
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SPECIAL INVITATION TO STUDENTS |
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Students (from school- to PhD-level) may present a poster paper on any relevant subject at the lecture venue, subject to acceptance by the organisers. Suitable subjects would include scientific studies of the planets, astrobiology or the like, and engineering studies of vehicles or other equipment used in planetary exploration. The posters should be A3 size (portrait format). Posters may be displayed on the day and should be placed on the boards no later than two hours before the lecture and taken down no earlier than one hour afterwards, so they may be properly viewed by attendees. The Organisers offer a small prize for the best poster, judged by scientific and or engineering content and by presentation. The prize will be awarded at the lecture. 15 grants of £20.00 per poster are available from the RAS for travel expenses for student-authors to stand by and present their poster paper in person to viewers on the lecture day and to attend the lecture. Apply by Friday 25 June to: The Executive Secretary, Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BQ. |
This lecture has been organised jointly by the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) Space Group and the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The lecture will take place in the Lecture Theatre at 4 Hamilton Place, London W1J 7BQ. Nearest underground station Hyde Park. See maps multimap.com... streetmap.co.uk...
For further details: Conference Department, Royal Aeronautical Society, 4 Hamilton Place, London W1J 7BQ. tel 020 7670 4300 fax 020 7670 4349 email conference@aerosociety.com
To receive details of the RAeS Space Group and other future events please send an email to space@aerosociety.com with "subscribe" in the subject.
Related web sites: The Royal Aeronautical Society www.aerosociety.com RAeS Space Group www.aerosociety.com/space/ Royal Astronomical Society www.ras.org.uk Beagle 2 www.beagle2.com Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute, Open University http://pssri.open.ac.uk EADS Astrium www.eads.net/