Delight and sadness after Mars discovery of Beagle 2
THE family of a British space expert who died not knowing whether his £50 million craft had landed on Mars in 2003 have spoken of their delight after it was photographed on the surface of the Red Planet.
Beagle 2, the brainchild of Professor Colin Pillinger, was presumed to have been destroyed as it approached Mars in search of alien life.
But new images taken by Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show it had landed on the surface on Christmas Day 2003, but its solar panels failed to deploy properly leaving it unable to send a signal back to Earth.
Professor Pillinger died last year aged 70. His daughter, Shusanah, said: “He would have loved that this shows Beagle 2 landed on Mars, it got through the entry and descend and the processes. It unravelled some of its solar panels.
“This shows such an immense success and not forgetting all the other things that went on in the background of Beagle 2, all the promotion of science, all of the inspiration to children.
“He would love that this is in the news again. He would love that this could inspire that next generation to do Beagle 3.”
Miss Pillinger said that the family had been through a tough time, saying: “We are trying to carry on what dad would have wanted. But there is a tinge of sadness that he can’t be here.”
University of Leicester Professor Mark Sims, who was mission manager of the Beagle 2 project, said Prof Pillinger would have been “pleased but so frustrated” at the discovery.
He added: “I’m pretty frustrated myself that we got so close but did not succeed.”
Prof Pillinger is not the only team member not to live to see Beagle 2 found.
Professor George Fraser, of the University of Leicester, and Professor David Barnes, of Aberystwyth University, also died in 2014.