Europe has formally started the countdown clock for the launch of its Mars Express space probe, which will lift off for the Red Planet on Monday, 2 June.

The UK science minister Lord Sainsbury set a digital timepiece going at the Royal Society in London, in the presence of senior European and British space officials.

Mars Express, which is carrying the Beagle 2 lander, is set for a 1845 BST (2345 local time) launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.

The 400-million-kilometre- (250 million miles) trip should see Beagle transmit its first signal from the surface of the Red Planet on Christmas Day.

The mission is Europe's first solo enterprise to another planet.

The main probe will orbit Mars and use its remote instruments to map the planet's surface, study its mineralogy and atmosphere, and attempt to identify the presence of water.

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