A British mission trying to find life on Mars suffered another setback when its space probe failed for the second time to send a signal to earth confirming it had landed.
The failure to pick up a signal from Beagle 2 raised fears that the probe, no bigger than an open umbrella, had suffered the same fate as so many craft before it and ended up as scrap metal strewn across the bleak Martian landscape.
"A search for a Beagle 2 radio signal was carried out (on Thursday evening) without success," the organisers of the mission said in a note posted on their website www.beagle2.com.
Beagle 2's latest failure to make contact capped a dismal Christmas Day for the mission's British scientists, trying to answer a question which has fascinated mankind for years - "Is there life on Mars?"
They had gathered in London in the early hours of the morning, hoping to hear the probe broadcasting its signature tune - composed for the occasion by pop group Blur - across the vastness of space from the red planet.
But Beagle 2 remained silent and scientists were forced to wait 16 hours for a second chance to detect the probe - this time using the giant Jodrell Bank telescope in the Midlands.