Obvious headline missed
Beagle 2.0 is out of this world
Chief OU boffin Prof. Pillinger is getting a second chance to launch a space probe. Despite the dismal failure of the original mission which crashed and burned on Mars and which led to those penny-pinching, taxsquandering Eurocrats at ESA, the outspoken Professor is being given a second chance. Beagle 2 MkII, or Beagle 2.0 (Beta) as it's now known, will have the chance to crash and freeze on the moon after hitching a ride from NASA. NASA, it seems, is more accustomed to expensive project failures and with DARPA, the nutty professor department of the US military, has the VC behind it that is the darling of every start-up in Silcon Valley.
Prof. Pillinger and his crack(pot) team will be aiming the plucky little craft for the moon's South Pole which is permanently in darkness at a positively nadger-busting temperature of -240°C or just 32 Kelvins (that's Celsius 2.0) above absolute zero. If, by a miracle, the new craft does land successfully there is almost no chance of receiving a signal from it so the mission is bound to be a success! To help finance the mission the Open University will be running a series "Rocket Scientists R Go" where whilst working on terribly difficult scientific projects contestants will use their mobile phones to compose a theme tune for the voyage.
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BTW: it was that bitch Thatcher who cut Britain's investment in ESA to the bone.