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Investigators have concluded the Beagle 2 Mars probe should never have been given the go-ahead by the European Space Agency, BBC News Online reported Thursday. The ESA originally backed the mission, which piggy-backed on board the agency's Mars Express Orbiter in 2003 and was headed by Colin Pillinger, a scientist and professor at London's Open University. The little lander - named after the ship that carried Charles Darwin on his historic voyage to the Galapagos Islands in the 19th century - apparently crashed on Mars on Dec 25, 2003. No cause has yet been determined. An ESA committee reviewing the incident said the agency made several fundamental errors, including treating the lander as simply another instrument aboard the Mars Express, instead of as a separate spacecraft. A second error involved estimates about the characteristics of the Martian atmosphere, whic! h were not as accurate as NASA's for its twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. The committee also said the mission was underfunded and its logistics were too complex for Pillinger's team. "It should have been made clear to all stakeholders, including the public, that the risk of failure was significantly higher than had been anticipated," the committee said. All rights reserved. © 2004 United Press International. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by United Press International. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of United Press International. Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
British Scientists Announce Successor To Ill-Fated Beagle Mars Probe
London (AFP) Nov 3, 2004The British team behind the ill-fated Beagle 2 probe to Mars, which vanished without trace last December while attempting to land on the Red Planet, unveiled plans Wednesday for a possible successor mission. Under the proposal - thus far called "Beagle 2: Evolution" - two identical craft, broadly similar to the earlier craft, would attempt to land on Mars in 2009. |
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