The meteorite that revived hopes of finding life on Mars is to be analysed by scientists working on the British-led Beagle 2 mission. Claims in 1996 that experts at the US space agency (Nasa) had found fossilised bugs inside a chunk of Mars rock remain highly contested. But the revelations helped inspire the current fleet of space craft heading to the Red Planet to search for water. The meteorite is to be re-examined to help calibrate the "eyes" of Beagle 2 - the stereo camera system the Mars lander will use to view the strip of rock and soil where it bounces to a halt. Geological samples from Earth and the Moon will also be tested to build up a database of the sorts of minerals the robotic probe might encounter on the Red Planet. These experiments must be completed before Beagle is delivered to Mars in late December by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) leads the stereo camera team on Beagle 2. "The reason for having two cameras is to get stereo images of the landing site," says lead scientist Dr Andrew Coates of MSSL.

"The operations for the whole mission depend on that. These things have got to work." The stereo cameras mounted on Beagle's robotic arm will be the first of its "senses" to be deployed. Shortly after touchdown, the probe's hard casing will spring open like a clam shell, exposing its inner workings and scientific instruments.

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