in 1998 to help with PR. They used their platform to help promote the project. Their support attracted high-profile support from the artist Damien Hirst and industry and financial backers. And after years of lobbying, the UK Government and ESA agreed to help finance the project. The Mars Express mission, carrying Beagle 2, was launched in June 2003. It carried a signature tune written by Blur to be beamed back from Mars to announce the lander's arrival and one of Hirst's trademark spot paintings to be used for the calibration of Beagle 2's cameras. The Beagle 2 lost contact with earth but was spotted on Mars' surface ten years later by the UK Space Agency in images taken by a NASA orbiter. Rowntree says: "In the same way that Damien Hirst got the first artwork on Mars, we got the first music on Mars." XFM radio In 2014 Rowntree started as a presenter for Global Radio's alternative rock radio station XFM (now Radio X) with a regular show on Sunday nights. On his first show he played songs by John Lennon, Elbow and The Polyphonic Spree, interspersed with discussions with his studio friend, "researcher George", on "nerdy" topics like Mars. Video On 31 July 2018, Rowntree appeared in the video for Slaves' newly released single, "Chokehold", as a drummer auditioning for a part in the band. Podcast Rowntree hosts The Dave Rowntree Podcast Show on Spotify with "researcher George". The first series was six episodes long, starting with an episode of Rowntree's "go to" music for challenging times released in November 2022. Solo career In November 2021 Rowntree signed a deal with Cooking Vinyl for his first solo record. "As a kid I used to spend hours spinning the dial on my radio, dreaming of escape to all the places whose exotic stations I heard,” Rowntree said in a statement. “I’ve tried to make an album like that – tuning through the spectrum, stopping at each song telling a story about a turning point in my life, then spinning the dial and moving on." His first solo single, "London Bridge", was released on 5 July 2022. Rowntree's first solo album was released on 20 January 2023, titled Radio Songs. Film and animation Animation Rowntree is a computer animator and owned an animation company called Nanomation for eleven years. Clients included advertising agencies and The 11 O'Clock Show. He also directed