A NORTH-EAST engineering company is to boldly go in search of life on Mars.

The European Space Agency is to send a probe to the Red Planet which will blast off from Kazakhastan in June next year hoping to find evidence of life on our nearest inter-planetary neighbour.

And critical to the success of the multi-billion pound project will be a set of clamps made in a Tyneside factory.

Northern Precision Engineering (NPE), of Wallsend, has won the contract to build four launch clamp rings. The rings connect the Mars Express orbiter vehicle and Beagle 2, the self-contained laboratory unit which will descend to the Martian surface.

NPE is one of 25 companies from 15 European countries developing hardware and software for the spacecraft.

The project will assume huge significance as part of the international Mars exploration programme over the next 20 years.

NPE's chief executive Chris Small said: "This component is critical to the success of the mission so we have to be 100 per cent certain the ring will withstand the rigours of separation from the orbiter vehicle.

"The Mars Express will take six months to reach its destination. If all goes to plan, the Beagle 2 laboratory will disengage from the orbiter on Boxing Day, 2003."

He added: "I suppose it must represent the ultimate export market for us - all the way from Wallsend to Mars.