Why did Beagle 2 disappear? (Image: ESA)
THE mystery over what happened to the Beagle 2 spacecraft may have been solved, five years after contact with it was lost as it entered the Martian atmosphere on Christmas Day 2003. An Australian team of hypersonics engineers say a flawed calculation probably resulted in Beagle 2 tumbling out of control as it descended.
Until now, the loss of the probe has been attributed to the general failings of a poorly funded mission: despite an exhaustive enquiry by the European Space Agency, no single cause for the loss of the £50 million spacecraft…
