Beagle 2

Beagle 2 was a British mars lander conceived by Colin Pillinger at the Open University. Launched in 2003 we sadly never received the expected signal from the surface of Mars on Christmas day 2003. Beagle 2 was a high-risk low-cost mission, with an extremely high payload mass fraction, which nevertheless carried a suite of state of the art instruments. In 2015 it was announced that the probe had been found on Mars in images from the HiRISE camera on NASA’s MRO spacecraft. It appears that the probe landed successfully but one or more solar panels failed to deploy, blocking the transmitter antenna.

Mark was Project Manager for the Beagle 2 Gas Analysis Package (mass spectrometer) up to delivery and completion of spacecraft integration and test in 2003. His management skills and leadership were critical to turning this project around, resolving major design problems and motivating the team to successfully deliver a world class space instrument to search for life on mars.

Beagle 2 GAP Qualification Model and the GAP Team (Credit: Judith Pillinger)