A leading hi-tech firm is taking part in the space race to Mars.

The first European spacecraft to land on another planet will operate in some of the harshest conditions encountered in space exploration.

AEA Technology at Harwell is using its expertise in space technology to ensure that a Beagle 2 lander, carried aboard a European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft, will be able to operate on the Red Planet.

The mission will launch in June 2003 and take six months to reach Mars. The unmanned lander will carry out experiments and scientific tasks while searching for evidence of life on Mars when it arrives on the Red Planet. Beagle 2 will have to survive dust storms and night-time temperatures that can reach minus 70C at the Martian equator. AEA Technology will supply the compact lithium-ion batteries that will power the Mars Express spacecraft and the Beagle 2 lander.

The company is also helping to develop the instrument arm that will be used to carry out surface experiments, and a parachute mechanism that will ensure the lander's safe descent on arrival.

AEA Technology is part of the Beagle 2 consortium led by Colin Pillinger, Professor of Planetary Sciences at the Open University. Spokesman Andrew Strange said: "The Beagle 2 will separate from the spacecraft around Christmas 2003 and descend to the surface. "The canopy that protects Beagle 2's sensitive instruments will then unfold before transmissions to Earth begin."

* On July 4, 1996, the Nasa pathfinder probe Sojourner landed on Mars. It released a six-wheel rover vehicle that explored the Martian surface and later sent back valuable data.