Scientists and engineers at an Oxfordshire research centre have done their best to simulate what the weather is like on Mars -- to test a full-scale working model of the Beagle 2 lander due to be launched next year.

Packed with sensitive instruments, Beagle 2 will attempt to discover whether there is, or ever was, life on Mars.

Evidence from Martian meteorites has shown traces of organic matter but there is no proof that it got there before reaching Earth.

Scientists argue the only way to reconcile the problem is to go to Mars and search for the evidence among the rocks and surface of the planet.

In 1997, the European Space Agency announced the Mars Express mission which will carry the Beagle 2 lander -- so called to celebrate Charles Darwin's epic sea voyage which led to the writing of The Origin of Species. The big challenge is to design Beagle 2 so that the different spacecraft components survive and operate at temperatures that drop to -100C at night on Mars, and where dust in the atmosphere can block out the sun for weeks at a time. In addition, cold winds will swirl around the lander, chilling and depositing sand over sensitive instruments.

The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Didcot, has been responsible for the thermal design of Beagle 2, and a mock-up of the lander has been undergoing rigorous testing in a test chamber at the laboratory.

Dr Bryan Shaughnessy, RAL engineer responsible for the thermal design of the lander, said the laboratory's huge vacuum tank was fitted out with a fan to generate a wind in the carbon dioxide-filled chamber, a powerful lamp to simulate the sun, and a thermal plate to recreate the surface temperature of Mars.

In the event, the model is only a mock-up of the actual Beagle 2 which will be launched aboard a Soyus/ Fregat rocket in a year's time. Dr Shaughnessy said: "I am delighted to say the model of the Beagle 2 lander has met the stringent specifications which should ensure survival in the Martian environment."

Beagle 2 has no propulsion system of its own. It will be carried to Mars by the Mars Express spacecraft which will go into orbit around the planet -- before the lander is dropped to the surface in a cocoon of gas-filled bags.

Design and testing of other aspects of the mission by a consortium of scientists and engineers at universities along with support teams and industry is continuing.

RAL engineer Graham Toplis said: "We are now looking forward to testing the model of the Beagle 2 probe, which transports the lander during its descent from Mars Express."