THE European Space Agency knew the Beagle 2 project was in trouble in May 2001, almost two years before the lander began its journey to Mars.
Beagle 2 was dreamed up by Colin Pillinger, a planetary scientist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, and the project’s public face. He also arranged for it to hitch a ride on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter. While the scientific goals of the mission – to look for signs of life on Mars – had been widely praised, the way the project was managed has been hugely controversial. None of Beagle 2’s backers,…
