The University of Leicester has successfully completed
construction and test of the flight Model PAW, the ‘eyes and
hand’ of the Beagle 2 Mars lander.

The Beagle 2 project aims to send a UK-led lander to Mars in
December 2003 as part of the European Space Agency’s Mars
Express Mission, due for launch at the end of May 2003.

The robotic lander, controlled remotely from Earth, will
sample the soil, rocks and atmosphere of Mars in its search
for signs of past and present life. In addition it will
examine the detailed geology and environment of the landing
site (Isidis Planitia).

The Beagle 2 probe is named after HMS Beagle, the ship in
which Charles Darwin sailed.

The Flight Model PAW (Position Adjustable Workbench) is an
integrated collection of instruments and tools for Beagle
2 that has been constructed over the last five months and
has just completed a vigorous test programmme.

This programme included a vibration and shock test to
simulate the rocket launch and the landing on Mars and
a thermal test to simulate Martian temperatures at the
European Space Agency’s Technology Centre at Noordwijk
in the Netherlands.

The PAW is constructed around a lightweight cast aluminium
structure and its own set of control electronics both
designed and assembled at the University of Leicester.

Mounted on the PAW are:

  • A Stereo Pair of Cameras to image the landing site and identify nearby rocks — provided by a consortium led by Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London
  • A Microscope to examine the microscopic structure of the rocks and soil — provided by the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy Lindau in Germany
  • A Gamma-ray Mossbauer Spectrometer to measure the oxidisation state of iron minerals in the soil and rocks — provided by the University of Mainz in Germany
  • An X-ray Spectrometer to measure the elemental composition of the rocks and soil — provided by the Leicester team led by Professor George Fraser
  • A Rock Corer/Grinder provided by Hong Kong Polytechnic Hong Kong, China with technical assistance from Leicester based on a concept developed by TC Ng
  • A Mole, a self burying drill and soil collection device — built by a consortium led by DLR (German Aerospace Research Establishment) Koln.

The cameras and microscope utilise identical camera heads
provided by Space-X of Switzerland who also provided some
of the optical elements of the cameras. Satellite Services
BV of the Netherlands provided key parts of the test
equipment.

Dr Mark Sims the Beagle 2 Mission Manager said “This was
very much a team effort led by the Instrument Manager
Derek Pullan and the PAW Chief Engineer Shaun Whitehead
at the University of Leicester. The flight PAW is the
culmination of four years of effort by the Leicester team
and the instrument providers. Following integration with
the Beagle 2 lander at the Open University, the next time
the PAW will be used is on Mars in December 2003”.

The FM PAW has now been delivered for integration and
test with the flight structure and electronics of the
Beagle 2 probe at the Open University. Beagle 2 will be
delivered to the Mars Express project in January 2003.

The construction and test of the Beagle 2 PAW at Leicester
has been funded by the Particle Physics and Astronomy
Research Council and from internal resources at the
University of Leicester. The Beagle 2 project is a
consortium led by the Open University together with the
University of Leicester and Astrium UK Ltd at Stevenage.
Beagle 2 is funded in part by the UK Department of Trade
and Industry (via the British National Space Centre),
the European Space Agency, and from internal resources
provided by the consortium members. Whilst the balance
of the cost of the project has been underwritten, a
proportion of the funding will be recouped by sponsorship
and commercial advertising.