CONTACT LOST

BBC reports:

The Mars Odyssey spacecraft failed to pick up a signal from the Beagle probe when it flew over the landing site on Christmas morning.

Although some predicts that the beagle has crashed and burned, people are still hopeful:

"The show isn't over by any means," says head of space research George Fraser. "We just have to be patient and wait to see how things unfold."

And the good news is the European Space Agency's (Esa) Mars Express appears to have gone into orbit around Mars without a hitch. It will undertake another mission on the Mars surface in January.

We are also waiting because the missions in Mars could unfold the greatest discovery of this era.