(It must be there somewhere, even though not transmitting!) I looked up 'Isidis Planitia' (landing site for Beagle 2) and finally found some excellent Malin images from orbit. These showed it to be covered in dunes of all sizes, and with many small mounds, craters, and curious cone-like features which resemble small volcanoes ( I thought of pseudocraters in Iceland) or ice-filled pingoes, but may be simply the remnants of crater floors, elevated by erosion.

At that point my painting was clear in my head! Suppose Beagle 2 had landed within sight of one of these: the result looks rather like a 'typical dramatic Martian landscape' - but this is Mars in microcosm. The scale is in metres, or at most tens of metres, but because Beagle 2 itself is so small, dunes and cones tower above it, making it look very lonely! (It also reveals the vulnerability of the little lander to features in the terrain.) It is near dawn and the Sun is rising (this could perhaps be symbolic?), giving quite dramatic lighting effects in the hazy atmosphere.

Prof. Colin Pillinger said he had seen enough 3D models of close-ups of Beagle 2 on the surface of Mars; what he wanted from me was the 'artist's view', the landscape being the most important thing. For US members to whom he may not be so familiar, the face of the kneeling astronaut in the 'alternative version' is Colin's.

The caption: "Hand me the soldering-iron, would you?"