The Beagle 2 Mars lander is all but lost, according to the European Space Agency's director of science. Dick Ahlstrom reports.
Fresh attempts to pick up a radio signal from the lander, which reached the Red Planet on Christmas Day, have failed making it less likely that contact can be made.
"We still have a few more shots but we are obviously getting to the bottom of the barrel," said Prof David Southwood.
Prof Southwood delivered a lecture in Dublin last night organised by Astronomy Ireland and hosted by Dublin City University.
The lander should by this time have been scurrying about on the Martian surface, taking pictures and analysing the soil for signs of life and water. Instead it remains stubbornly silent, despite concerted efforts by ESA's orbiting satellite Mars Express to pick up a weak radio signal.
Prof Southwood expressed disappointment that the failure of Beagle 2 is obscuring the success of its sister craft, Mars Express, which is beginning to switch on its impressive armoury of experiments. It can see up to 10 kilometres below the Martian surface. He said he expected "an awful lot of science from it".