But the main means of communication with Beagle 2 was always intended to be its mother ship, the European Space Agency's Mars Express, from which it was released on December 19th.

ECONOMIST: The current crop of Mars missions has got off to a bad start

Last summer, when I first met Prof Siegert, I was too polite to remind him of what had happened to another British science project, the Beagle 2 mission to Mars, the spacecraft named after the ship that had carried Charles Darwin.

BBC: Why did the Antarctic drilling project fail?

Ship authorities were informed of the decision Monday morning as they sailed through the Beagle Canal in front of the Chilean city of Port Williams.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS