'A British success story'

Lord Sainsbury (right) watches the launch with Colin Pillinger

The British science minister Lord Sainsbury talks to BBC News Online's Helen Briggs about the Beagle 2 project.

HB: How important is Beagle in inspiring young people?

DS: It is brilliant science - this is a British story of success in engineering.

I also think it's a project which will capture anyone's imagination down the realm and show them what a remarkable thing space exploration can be.

HB: It's been reported that scientists found it difficult to get funding for Beagle 2 - do you predict more spending on such projects in the future?

DS: There was a problem with the funding in the early days because normally these things are planned four or five years ahead.

In this particular case, it only arose in 1996 because there was a failure of a Russian mission and there was equipment from that that could be used for Mars Express.

It came very late in the day when all the funding had already been allocated to other missions and that's why in the early days we had to be very entrepreneurial about finding money to support it.

But I thought it was really worth doing because I think it is very exciting science, brilliant engineering and you have to have a heart of stone if you can't see that this is exciting.

HB: Where does the UK stand on European Space Agency proposals for robotic and eventually manned missions to Mars?

DS: I think robotic exploration is the answer for the next phase of planetary exploration because this is the best way to do the science.

If you start having manned space exploration at this point you make it hugely more expensive with very little value. And, of course, on this particular project we have built up some real skills in terms of robotic exploration and I think that will make British companies and scientists extremely attractive partners for future exploration using robotic means.

Where it goes after that, I think is another question - it depends again what your objectives are.

HB: What, for you, is going to be the next nail-biting moment in Beagle's journey to Mars?

DS: I think Colin Pillinger was quite right when he said the next stage is the semi-finals, which is when we have the landing on Mars and then the finals is when we actually do the science on the surface of Mars.

For sure, the bit where Beagle 2 lands is going to be very exciting because it is technologically very high risk. Every precaution has been taken to get it right but it's high risk and I think everyone will be biting their nails at that point.

But the really exciting bit is the science which we can then do on the surface of Mars - if it all comes good.