The Beagle has Landed

by Chris Mitchell

2003 was the year that Mars hit the headlines.

The red planet dominated our skies from September onwards as it made its closest approach to Earth in almost 60,000 years, and scientists took advantage of this fact to launch a total of three probes all with the same mission - to see if there is life on Mars.

The first probe - called Mars Express - was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) and carried the Beagle 2 probe developed by flamboyant Bristolian scientist Colin Pillinger, and built on a shoe-string budget. This probe landed on Christmas Day, but sadly has at the time of writing (6 January 2004) failed to send back any signals. There is still a final chance, but hopes are fading fast.

NASA launched two probes - Mars Spirit, which landed on 4 January 2004, and Mars Opportunity, due to land later in January. Mars Spirit has so far been very successful, and has already sent its first pictures back to Earth.

Looking at the launch charts, the charts of both the NASA probes are quite spectacular - and one can only assume that NASA employ better astrologers than ESA!

Beagle 2 / Mars Express

Launched: 2 June 2003, 23:45:28 Local time (17:45:28 GMT). Location: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan (47N50, 66E03). (chart left)

June 2003 had that troublesome Jupiter/Neptune opposition, which can represent false hopes - which sadly seems to be the case for Beagle 2. Not only that, but Chiron is closely conjunct the Ascendant. Mars is going to be a key player in this chart, obviously - and he's square to Venus, which doesn't bode well. On the plus side, at least Mars is trine to Saturn - a handy placement for a scientific mission - and Jupiter is trine to Pluto, which would be highly relevant were we to discover life on Mars, an event that would truly transform our scientific understanding and finally answer the question that is as old as humanity itself: "are we alone?"

Landed: 25 December 2003, 02:54 GMT. Location: Mars. Sun: 2Cap53.

Looking at the geocentric chart, we have very few hopeful aspects. Mars is forming a T-square with Saturn and the Sun, and Jupiter has moved away from that hopeful trine to Pluto and is now squaring it instead. Saturn is opposing Mercury and the Sun. The only positive feature is Mars making a sextile to Venus.

However, Beagle 2 isn't on Earth - it's on Mars; so let's take a look at a Mars-centred chart:

Earth: 5Lib02 Mercury: 8Sco47 Venus: 16Sag45 Jupiter: 21Vir31 Saturn: 17Can37 Uranus: 28Aqu02 Neptune: 9Aqu52 Pluto: 18Sag24

This at least offers some ray of hope - Earth, Beagle's home, is trining Neptune, so maybe the idealism of the venture wasn't entirely unfounded. The Sun is closely trining Saturn, a signature of a successful scientific mission. Even shifting the focus from Earth to Mars doesn't get rid of that troublesome Jupiter/Pluto square which may mean that the hoped for scientific revolution heralded by finding life on Mars won't be easy on this particular mission, and the Mercury square to Neptune can frustrate the dream of successful communication - but whether Beagle finds life on Mars or not, this mission has been a success in many respects. We'll have to wait and see if Beagle 2 delivers the goods, but whatever happens it appears that the government are prepared to consider a Beagle 3. It has put Britain on the map in terms of space exploration, and Colin Pillinger's ability to create a probe on a ludicrously small budget, and successfully send it to another planet is an achievement well worth applauding.

Colin Pillinger was born on 9 May 1943 in Bristol (51N27, 2W36) (noon chart right) but we don't have a birth time. He has a Mercury/Uranus conjunction (it seems quite a few scientists do), Mars trine Jupiter, and probably a Moon/Mars conjunction too unless he was born very early in the day. On the day that Beagle 2 landed, he had transiting Mars trining his Pluto, transiting Uranus trining his Venus, transiting Mars making a sextile to his Uranus/Mercury conjunction and transiting Jupiter opposite Mars. Not a bad chart to have on the day - and although the charts for Beagle's launch and landing are both quite troublesome by themselves, this mission has nevertheless made Colin Pillinger a household name, and whatever the outcome will certainly be a big boost to his career.

Colin Pillinger has a reputation for being someone who can't be bothered with bureaucracy and just rolls up his shirt sleeves and gets on with the job. An official at ESA when interviewed said, rather tongue-in-cheek, "Colin is not a reasonable man. If he was a reasonable man, he would never have undertaken the project in the first place!". His determination to see the project through shows up not only in his chart, but in the fixed stars too: looking at parans to Mars, he has Betelgeuse rising as Mars is culminating, which Bernadette Brady describes as " The courage to undertake large and painstaking projects", Acumen culminating as Mars is rising (" Motivated to act even in the face of hardship or negative social opinion"), Sirius setting with Mars on the nadir ("Dedication which leads to brilliance; very strong focus") and Zosmar on the nadir as Mars is culminating ("To work in impossible, or extremely difficult, circumstances") - all of which sum up Colin Pillinger perfectly!

(Fixed star interpretations are from the Starlight program, www.zyntara.com)

Mars Spirit

Mars Spirit was the first of the NASA probes - the second one taking off a month later.

Launched: 10 June 2003 13:58:47 EDT (17:58:47 GMT). Location: Cape Canaveral, Florida (28N24, 80W36). (chart left)

In contrast to the troubled chart of Beagle 2 / Mars Express's launch, this chart has a magnificent Grand Trine. Saturn is on the MC, trining a Mars/Uranus conjunction, trining the Moon, and the Ascendant is making a trine to the Venus/Mercury conjunction. Of course, the sometimes deceptive Jupiter/Neptune opposition is still there as it was for Beagle's launch chart, together with the Jupiter trine to Pluto, and Mars does square the Venus/Mercury conjunction - but still not a bad looking chart.

Landed: 4 Jan 2004 04:35 GMT. Location: Mars. Sun: 13Cap09.

Like the Beagle landing chart, we still have the troublesome Mars-Saturn-Sun T-square, and Jupiter square to Pluto. However, take a look at the Mars-centred chart:

Earth: 11Lib06 Sun: 22Sco46 Mercury: 9Sco51 Venus: 20Sag58 Jupiter: 23Vir01 Saturn: 17Can34 Uranus: 28Aqu03 Neptune: 9Aqu57 Pluto: 18Sag41

Like the Beagle landing chart, we have Earth trining Neptune, and Saturn trining the Sun (though a wider trine this time). However, this time Saturn also trines Mercury, which bodes far better for getting communication back from the probe - and no-one can deny that the initial pictures back have been a great success.

Mars Opportunity

Mars Opportunity is the second of the Mars probes launched by NASA, a month after Mars Spirit. It is scheduled to land on Mars on 24 January.

Launch: 7 July 2003 23:18:25 EDT (8 July 2003 03:18:25 GMT). Location: Cape Canaveral, Florida (28N24, 80W36). (chart right)

Well - what a chart! Another Grand Trine, and what's more - Mars is just one degree away from the Ascendant, while Pluto is on the MC. Like the earlier launch, Mars is still conjunct Uranus, and trining a very close Venus/Saturn conjunction, trining the Moon. There's not a single square in sight - although one possibly worrying aspect is the Void of Course Moon at 29Lib10.

Expected Landing: 25 January 2004 05:05 GMT. Location: Mars. Sun: 4Aqu33.

The Mars-centred chart looks like this:

Earth: 24Lib10 Sun: 4Sag12 Mercury: 29Sco29 Venus: 23Sag30 Jupiter: 25Vir57 Saturn: 17Can12 Uranus: 28Aqu12 Neptune: 10Aqu12 Pluto: 19Sag18

This time we have Earth trining Uranus, and Jupiter trining Mercury, but here the fly in the ointment is Saturn squaring Earth, Jupiter squaring Venus and Uranus squaring Mercury - the latter being a particular worrying aspect considering the whole purpose of the mission is about communication!

So will the actual landing live up to the promise of the launch chart? We'll find out very soon!

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