Mars to Earth, your mission, should you accept, is to laugh and learn

Published on Saturday 6 May 2006 01:06

THE space scientist whose last mission to Mars ended in disaster has compiled a collection of cartoons from publications all over the world about science and the Red Planet.

Professor Colin Pillinger, who was the scientist-in-chief of the 2003 British-led Beagle 2 mission, said: "It's another way of reaching an audience who may not believe they are interested in science and space exploration.

"People in science preach to people who are already interested in science. I am trying to reach people who have no idea that scientists are human and that they enjoy a good laugh as much as the next person.

"I am not boring and neither are so many that I know, such as Patrick Moore."

Prof Pillinger insisted that he did not mind that the Beagle 2 mission was pilloried by cartoonists, some examples of whose work are being shown at the Cartoon Museum in Bloomsbury, London.

He added: "You have to be able to laugh at yourself. It gives me the opportunity to say, this is what the problem is. We do our very best to eliminate mistakes and risks, but if it goes wrong we should be able to explain why.

"The exhibition shows just why the mission of Mars exploration is so difficult.

"People want to explore, and what is more, there are people who want to watch them do it. There is always a genuine interest by the public in space exploration," Prof Pillinger said.

"When somebody draws a cartoon about life on Mars, that puts that science story on an equal par with stories about the Royals or football. Which doesn't happen very often.

"You can get across a small message in a simple way. Cartoons have always been a powerful way of communicating messages to the people."

The 120 cartoons in Mars in their Eyes were chosen from a selection of almost 1,000. Contributions come from Brazilian and Vietnamese cartoonists as well as from the British press.

The Beagle 2 mission was meant to land on Mars on Christmas Day 2003 but the probe was lost and never found. Scientists had hoped that the craft would be able to prove whether forms of life exist now, or have done in the past, on the Red Planet.

Prof Pillinger has been studying images of the landing site for Beagle 2 since it was lost two years ago, and he believes the craft may have hit the ground too hard.

The mission, named after Charles Darwin's ship, cost the government more than 22 million and the private sector a further 44 million.

Two-thirds of missions to Mars since the 1960s, by the United States, Russia, Europe and Japan, have not achieved their goal, leading researchers to joke about the Earth-Mars Bermuda Triangle or "Mars Curse".