The build is being carried out in a specially constructed Aseptic Assembly Facility at the Open University, in Milton Keynes.

The assembly, integration and verification of the flight hardware for the UK spacecraft will take place under strictly controlled conditions to ensure that the components have been through a rigorous sterilisation process.

Professor Colin Pillinger, of the Open University, which has played a leading role in developing the lander, said: "This week is very special to us as we are starting to assemble the flight hardware, the culmination of all our efforts. The assembly room will keep Beagle 2 free of terrestrial microorganisms and other forms of contamination.

"In less than six months Beagle 2 will be leaving the UK to join up with the European Space Agency's Mars Express satellite and on to the launch site at Baikonur. We hope that when it arrives on Mars at the end of next year, we will finally be able to answer the eternal question: Is there, or was there, life on Mars?"

A unique academic and industrial team in the UK, led by the Open University and Astrium plc, has developed Beagle 2. It will be launched as part of ESA's Mars Express mission next May and is expected to land on the Red Planet just before Christmas 2003.

The Mars Express, part of ESA's Horizons 2000 programme, is designed to take a payload of seven state-of-the-art scientific instruments to orbit Mars as well as the Beagle 2 lander. The orbiter instruments will record data for at least one Martian year, or 687 Earth days; Beagle 2 is designed to work for 180 Earth days. The satellite will also carry a data relay system for communicating with Earth.

Named after HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin's famous ship, Beagle 2 will deploy a "mole" to burrow down into the planet's sub-surface to collect samples that will be analysed for evidence of past biological activity.

It has been a tough assignment for the craft's creators, who have had to become masters of miniaturisation by squeezing their scientific instruments into a box the size of a dog basket. Its vital Gas Analysis Package (GAP), which will heat up rock and soil samples and analyse their gases, includes a tiny mass spectrometer and a processing system reduced from several cubic metres in size to fit within a 10cm cube.

GAP will analyse the Martian atmosphere for clues to the history of the planet, its climate and for trace gases indicative of current microbial life. A suite of instruments will also measure the weather, including temperature, pressure and wind.

Colin Hicks, Director General of the British National Space Centre, said Beagle 2 will be a landmark for UK space exploration.

"The mission to Mars is very important as it will help us to understand more about the surface and climate of Mars. This latest stage of the project's development is the result of months and years of hard work and dedicated research.

"Beagle 2 is a key part of the Mars Express mission and a fitting tribute to the vision of those who are working to make it possible."

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