Europe goes to Mars
The week's news at a glance.
Paris
The European Space Agency has launched its first planetary explorer, with the help of British pop band Blur. The Paris-based ESA has a far smaller budget than NASA, so it had to rely on corporate sponsorship and private donations to launch the Beagle 2, a British-built craft named after Charles Darwin’s ship. Blur drummer Dave Rowntree told the London Guardian that his desire to promote a British space program blossomed after his band visited a NASA space center in Houston and met British scientists who couldn’t find work in the U.K. “What we had to bring was our celebrity badgering power,” Rowntree said. Blur lobbied rich friends to support Europe’s Mars exploration program, and even wrote the nine-note tune that Beagle 2 will play each time it radios home. Touchdown on Mars is scheduled for Christmas Day.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Today's political cartoons - December 3, 2023
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - life expectancy goes up, Kissinger goes down, and more
By The Week US Published
-
10 things you need to know today: December 3, 2023
Daily Briefing Gaza residents flee as Israel continues bombardment, Trump tells supporters to 'guard the vote' in Democratic cities, and more
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
5 X-plosive cartoons about Elon Musk
Cartoons Artists take on his proposed clean-up of X, his views on advertisers, and more
By The Week US Published