Hirst sets the tone on a Mars mission

British artist Damien Hirst's work becomes even more outlandish this summer when one of his paintings blasts off for Mars.

The controversial modernist has created one of his famous spot paintings for the Beagle 2 lander craft that is due to begin its journey to the red planet in June.

But his work is designed to be more than just aesthetically pleasing. Scientists will use its colours to calibrate their instruments and check their cameras, rather as television technicians use a test card to tune in different channels.

Beagle 2 must be able to survive the rigours of a rocket launch and a voyage through space of seven months before a rapid descent to the Martian surface. After all this, the instruments on board must work so that the results beamed back are meaningful.

"This is absolutely essential to the project," said Open University Professor Colin Pillinger, the mission's lead scientists, who asked Hirst to contribute because he said the work of the artist most famous for hanging dead animals in formaldehyde appealed to him. The pair worked to make the painting practical.

"The instruments on the spacecraft have to be calibrated in situ," Professor Pillinger said.

The work is made up of paints known in the art world as Mars pigments. The calibration target incorporates nine synthetic Mars iron oxides. "The colours are important," added the professor, "because there are a lot of reds and oranges on Mars. These are the colours the Beagle 2 cameras must register."

Beagle 2, which will look for signs of past and present life, is named after the ship on which Charles Darwin made his expeditions to research The Origin of Species in the 19th century – a link reinforced by the fact that one of Hirst's spots has been painted with an original Mars pigment sample from the same period.

"The spot painting is not just a target – it is a message from earthlings to Mars," said the professor, whose craft will also include another 21st-century art form – a recording of a song by Britpop band Blur.

"We don't believe we are communicating to Martians, but we are certainly communicating with a pattern," Professor Pillinger said.