"They successfully separated," the European Space Agency's director of science, David Southwood, said, in a teleconference to the agency's headquarters in Paris from mission control in Darmstadt, Germany.

"I'm feeling very confident that mother and baby are both doing well."

Scientists at Darmstadt and ESA headquarters heaved a sigh of relief that the British-built lander, Beagle 2, had smoothly separated from its parent, Mars Express, after a six-month, 400-million-kilometer (250-million-mile) trek across the void.

"It's fantastic news," said Michael McKay, Mars Express flight operations director.

If all goes well, Beagle 2 will glide through the thin Martian atmosphere and land on December 25, its descent protected by a heat shield and braked by parachute and airbags, to land on Mars' Isidis Planitia, a large, flat sedimentary basin.

The size of a round barbecue, the lander will then open its lid, exposing solar panels to power a miniature lab of seven tools on an extendable arm to analyse the atmosphere and soil samples.

Its main goal during its six months of scheduled life is to see whether water exists, or has existed, on Mars, and whether there are the remains of carbon-based lifeforms on the surface.

Meanwhile, Mars Express will loop the planet for a year, using sensors to map terrain and its minerology, analyse the planet's atmosphere and peer as far as one kilometer (900 yards) beneath the surface using ground-penetrating radar, and relay back to Earth the data from Beagle.

"Mars is the closest planet to the Earth, in terms of size and geological composition," said ESA Mars scientist Augustin Chicarro. "If you want to know more about Earth, you can start by knowing more about Mars."

Marcello Coradini, coordinator for ESA's Solar System Missions, said Mars was an enormously perplexing planet.

"The surface clearly gives us signs of flowing water, but the atmosphere, the permafrost and minerals are signs that Mars is dry. So where is the water?" he said.

Mars Express, with the small lander riding piggyback, was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on June 2, to benefit from a historically close alignment this year between Mars and Earth.

A problem with solar power has inflicted a 30-percent power loss on the orbiter, but ESA is confident that this will not affect the mission's tasks.

ESA officials said 115 commands were sent by radio to separate the unmanned spacecraft from the lander, through a spring ejection mechanism that sent Beagle gentle spinning towards Mars.

It is Europe's first solo exploration of another planet, and its budget is billed at 260 million euros (325 million dollars).

Hard on ESA's heels are two roving US laboratories, on the same quest, but which cost some 800 million dollars.

The first, Spirit, is expected on Mars around January 4, and its twin, Sojourner, is due around January 24.

A maiden first mission to Mars by Japan was abandoned on December 9, after the probe, Nozomi, was damaged by a solar flare.

Beagle 2 is named in tribute to Charles Darwin, the British scientist who pioneered the theory of evolution, whose voyage of discovery in 1830 took place aboard the ship HMS Beagle.

earlier related report
Beagle 2 Separation Command Sent: Confirmation at 1100 GMT
London (AFP) Dec 19, 2003
European scientists on Friday gave the order to the Mars Express spacecraft to separate from its probe, Beagle 2, in a key operation to send the lander towards a historic rendezvous with the Red Planet next Thursday.

If all goes well, Beagle 2 will glide through the thin Martian atmosphere and land on December 25, starting a mission to search for signs of life.

Officials at the European Space Agency (ESA) said 115 commands were sent by radio to separate the unmanned spacecraft from the lander.

The operation was to take place at 0831 GMT, they said, although confirmation by telemetry as to whether it had been successful would only come around 1100 GMT.

Mars Express comprises an orbiter that will loop the planet, using sensors to map terrain and its minerology, analyse the planet's atmosphere and peer as far as one kilometer (900 yards) beneath the surface using ground-penetrating radar.

Beagle 2 carries a miniaturised science lab, containing seven tools to analyse the atmosphere and soil samples.

Its main goal is to see whether water exists, or has existed, on Mars, and whether there are the remains of carbon-based lifeforms on the surface.

Mars Express, with the small lander riding piggyback, was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on June 2 on a 250-million-kilometer (156-million-mile) trip.

It is Europe's first solo exploration of another planet.

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