PRESS RELEASE McLaren Composites Joins the 'Space Race' McLaren Composites Ltd. part of the TAG McLaren Group is delighted to announce that they have won the contract to manufacture and provide development support to Matra Marconi Space for the construction of the Lander Structure and Solar Panels for the Beagle 2 - Mars Lander. Beagle 2 is a mobile laboratory tasked with analysing the Martian surface in order to determine whether life exists, or indeed ever existed, on Mars. To cross the 50 million miles between Earth and Mars the `European Space Agency's 'Mars Express will have to travel a staggering 300 million miles through space. Five days out from Mars, Beagle 2 will be released to start its 14.000 mph decent to the surface. Upon entering the Mars atmosphere the craft will slow to 1.5 times the velocity of sound. Parachutes will further slow the crafts decent in preparation for an impact on the Mars surface equivalent of 200 times the force of gravity. Beagle 2 is expected to land on Mars, Boxing Day 2003. Shalford based McLaren Composites Ltd was originally set up to produce the carbon fibre 'McLaren F1' road car bodies and components for the F1 Race Team, and has, in recent years, operated as a stand alone company within the TAG McLaren Group. Martin O'Connor, Director of McLaren Composites, said " A significant percentage of our work is for F1 but we have increasingly sought challenging technical partnerships outside motor racing, where we can utilise our racing philosophy, design expertise and manufacturing skills evolved over many years of top level competition. Beagle 2 is just such an application and we are thrilled to be associated with such a prestigious project." Development work on the project is already under way and McLaren Composites look forward to a long and rewarding relationship. END For further information contact Martin O'Connor - telephone 01483 440509 McLAREN COMPOSITES LTD. RIVER HOUSE, BROADFORD PARK. SHALFORD. GUILDFORD. GU4 8EP. ENGLAND. TEL. 01483 440509. FAX. 01483 571011.