Beagle 2 is also the name of the music specially composed by the British rock band Blur for the project and released by Food Records on 15 November 1999. Beagle 2 will be the call sign for the lander and will be beamed back from the surface of Mars to announce our safe arrival. Beagle 2 is an entirely new composition and is included on the CD (CD2) of the third single, No Distance Left To Run, from Blur's platinum album '13'.
Alex James and Dave Rowntree, space and astronomy fans, are keen supporters of the mission and their enthusiasm inspired the band to compose the new track.
Alex and Dave announcing the
record release to a Tomorrow's World interviewer for transmission
on 10 November 1999, the precise date when Beagle 2 was approved
by ESA. Filming courtesy of the Science Museum, Space Gallery
Calibration chart for cameras and spectrometers
The British artist Damien Hirst joined the Beagle 2 team to
provide an image on the lander based on his famous spot paintings,
which will serve as the colour calibration target for the on-board
cameras. These will be equipped with a variety of filters of
known wave length. By using various iron oxides and other known
minerals it will also be possible to obtain signals to standardise
the Mössbauer and X-ray spectrometers.
