Posted by tourdemars to Mars Express at August 23, 2003 12:00 PM

Professor Pillinger, a planetary scientist from Britain's Open University, is the public face of Britain's first mission to Mars. As the world's amateur and professional skywatchers turn their gaze towards Mars on August 27, when it will be a mere 56 million kilometres away, his thoughts will be on the small payload of the European Space Agency's orbiter, Mars Express. The Beagle 2 lander, named after Charles Darwin's famous ship, has been six years and about £30 million ($A75 million) in the making. Its mission: to discover whether there is or has been life on Mars.