Beagle 2
Encyclopedia
Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British
landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency
's 2003 Mars Express
mission. All contact with it was lost upon its separation from the Mars Express six days before its scheduled entry into the atmosphere. A subsequent investigation concluded that Beagle 2 had reached the surface of Mars, but likely suffered a hard landing
due to failure of one or more of its systems. The Beagle 2 was named after HMS Beagle
, which twice carried Charles Darwin
during expeditions which would later lead to the theory of evolution.
of the Open University
, in collaboration with the University of Leicester
. Its purpose was to search for signs of life on Mars
, past or present, and its name reflected this goal, as Professor Pillinger explained:
A point at 10.6°N, 270°W in Isidis Planitia
, a large flat sedimentary basin
that overlies the boundary between the ancient highlands and the northern plains of Mars, was chosen as the landing site. The lander was expected to operate for about 180 days and an extended mission of up to one Martian year
(687 Earth
days) was thought possible. The Beagle 2 lander objectives were to characterize the landing site geology
, mineralogy
, geochemistry
and oxidation state
, the physical properties of the atmosphere and surface layers, collect data on Martian meteorology
and climatology
, and search for possible signatures of life.
Pillinger set up a consortium to design and build Beagle 2. The principal members and their initial responsibilities were:
In 2000, when the main development phase started, Astrium took over responsibility for program management, and Leicester assumed responsibility for mission management which involved the preparations for the operations post launch and the operations control center.
In an effort to publicize the project and gain financial support, its designers sought and received the endorsement and participation of British artists. The mission's call-sign was composed by the band Blur
, and the 'test card' (Calibration Target Plate) intended for calibrating Beagle 2s cameras and spectrometers after landing was painted by Damien Hirst
.
The Lander Operations Control Centre (LOCC) was located at the National Space Centre
in Leicester
, from which the spacecraft
was being controlled, and was visible to the public visiting the center. The control center included operational systems for controlling the Beagle 2, analysis tools for processing engineering and scientific telemetry, virtual reality tools for preparing activity sequences, communications systems, and the Ground Test Model (GTM). The GTM was composed of various builds of the Beagle 2 systems, collected together to provide a full set of lander electronics. The GTM was used nearly continuously to validate the engineering and science commands, to rehearse the landing sequence, and to validate the onboard software.
cameras, a microscope
(with a 6 micrometre
resolution), a Mössbauer spectrometer, an X-ray spectrometer, a drill for collecting rock samples and a spotlamp. Rock samples were to be passed by the PAW into a mass spectrometer and gas chromatograph
in the body of the lander - the GAP (Gas Analysis Package), to measure the relative proportions of different isotope
s of carbon
. Since carbon is thought to be the basis of all life, these readings could have revealed whether the samples contained the remnants of living organisms.
In addition, Beagle 2 was equipped with a small "mole
" (Planetary Undersurface Tool, or PLUTO), to be deployed by the arm. PLUTO had a compressed spring
mechanism designed to enable it to move across the surface at a rate of 20 mm per second and to burrow into the ground and collect a subsurface sample in a cavity in its tip. The mole was attached to the lander by a power cable which could be used as a winch to bring the sample back to the lander.
The lander had the shape of a shallow bowl with a diameter of 1m and a depth of 0.25 m. The cover of the lander was hinged and folded open to reveal the interior of the craft which holds a UHF
antenna, the 0.75 m long robot
arm, and the scientific equipment. The main body also contained the battery, telecommunication
s, electronics, and central processor, heaters, and additional payload items (radiation and oxidation sensors). The lid itself further unfolded to expose four disk-shaped solar array
s. The lander package had a mass of 69 kg at launch but the actual lander would have been only 33.2 kg at touchdown.
The ground segment itself was derived from the European Space Agency software kernel known as SCOS2000. In keeping with the low cost theme of the mission, the control software was the first of its type deployed on a laptop.
on 2 June 2003, at 17:45 UTC
(18:45 BST
). The Beagle 2 was a Mars lander initially mounted on the top deck of the Mars Express Orbiter. It was released from the Orbiter on a ballistic trajectory towards Mars on the 19th of December 2003 at 8:31 UT. Beagle 2 coasted for six days after release and was scheduled to enter the Martian atmosphere, at over 20,000 km/h, on the morning of the 25th of December. The lander was protected from the heat of entry by a heatshield coated with NORCOAT, an ablating material made by EADS
. Compression of the martian atmosphere and radiation from the hot gas are estimated to have led to a peak heating rate of around 100 W
/cm², comparable to the heat flux experienced by Mars Pathfinder
.
After deceleration in the Martian atmosphere, parachute
s were to be deployed and about 1 km above the surface large airbag
s were to inflate around the lander and protect it when it hit the surface. Landing was expected to occur at about 02:45 UT on 25 December (9:45 p.m. EST 24 December). After landing the bags were supposed to deflate and the top of the lander was to open. A signal was supposed to be sent to Mars Express after landing and another the next (local) morning to confirm that Beagle 2 survived the landing and the first night on Mars. A panoramic image of the landing area was then supposed to be taken using the stereo camera and a pop-up mirror, after which the lander arm would have been released. The lander arm was to dig up samples to be deposited in the various instruments for study, and the "mole" would have been deployed, crawling across the surface to a distance of about 3 metres from the lander and burrowing under rocks to collect soil samples for analysis.
The British government spent more than £22 million (US$
40 million) on Beagle 2, with the remainder of the total £44 million (US$80 million) coming from the private sector.
's 2001 Mars Odyssey
spacecraft that was already in orbit. In the following days, the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank
also failed to pick up a signal from Beagle 2. The team said they were "still hopeful" of finding a successful return signal.
Attempts were made throughout January and February 2004 to contact Beagle 2 using Mars Express. The first of these occurred on 7 January 2004, but ended in failure. Although regular calls were made, particular hope was placed on communication occurring on 12 January, when Beagle 2 was pre-programmed to expect the Mars Express probe to fly overhead, and on 2 February, when the probe was supposed to resort to the last communication back-up mode: Autotransmit. However, no communication was ever established with Beagle 2. Beagle 2 was declared lost on 6 February 2004, by the Beagle 2 Management Board. On 11 February, ESA announced an inquiry would be held into the failure of Beagle 2.
On 20 December 2005, Professor Pillinger released specially-processed images from the Mars Global Surveyor
which suggested that Beagle 2 came down in a crater at the landing site on Isidis Planitia. It was claimed that the blurry images show the primary impact site as a dark patch and a short distance away, Beagle 2 surrounded by the deflated airbags and with its solar panels extended. However, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
's HiRISE camera subsequently observed the area, in February 2007, and revealed that the crater was empty. While that mission ended in disaster, the Mars Express Orbiter that carried the Beagle 2 to Mars has been a success.
Failures in missions to Mars are common. As of 2010, of 38 launch attempts to reach the planet, only 19 have succeeded. See the so-called Mars Curse for details.
. Initially the full report was not published on the grounds of confidentiality, but a list of 19 recommendations was announced to the public.
Professor David Southwood, ESA's director of science, provided four scenarios of possible failures:
The probe's parachute or cushioning airbags failed to deploy or deployed at the wrong time. This is supported by the observation that throughout the transfer to Mars, the outgassing of some substance and subsequent condensation on optical components of the Mars Express spacecraft carrying the Beagle lander was observed. This observation would be consistent with a leak in the gas generators of Beagle's airbags;
Beagles backshell tangled with the parachute preventing it from opening properly. It is not clear whether the difference in air drag between the probe with the parachute deployed and the back shell of the heat shield is sufficient to guarantee a safe separation distance (see Section 5.4.4 of the Inquiry Report);
Beagle became wrapped up in its airbags or parachute on the surface and could not open. Entanglement with the parachute appears plausible in view of the fact that the parachute's strop was shortened from the original design to save mass. Assuming that the airbags deployed, Beagle would, in the scenario, have bounced off the surface right back into the descending parachute (see also Section 5.4.6 of the Inquiry Report).
In addition, further scenarios appear plausible and consistent with the available body of data:
In February 2005, following comments from the House of Commons
Select Committee on Science and Technology, the report was made public, and Leicester University independently published a detailed mission report, including possible failure mode
s, and a "lessons learned" pamphlet.
project in the 2007 Transformers movie. After landing on Mars it was revealed it was destroyed by a Decepticon 13 seconds after being activated. Afterwards the incident was classified above Top Secret by the US government, and declared a complete failure to the public (saying it crashed on Mars instead) but later became a warning that the Transformers were coming to Earth.
The plot of the Doctor Who
episode "The Christmas Invasion
" involves a fictional British robot probe to Mars, scheduled to touch down on Christmas Day, which fails in its mission (though in this story, due to alien intervention).
In the Facebook
game Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, Chapter 1 of the Holiday Set involves Beagle 2 being secretly co-opted by an unspecified organization, a freelance spy having hidden the lander's survival from everyone else at Mission Control while rerouting its controls to a laptop that she handed over to her handler.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
's 2003 Mars Express
Mars Express
Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency . The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was...
mission. All contact with it was lost upon its separation from the Mars Express six days before its scheduled entry into the atmosphere. A subsequent investigation concluded that Beagle 2 had reached the surface of Mars, but likely suffered a hard landing
Hard landing
In aviation a hard landing is an especially rapid or steep descent.Landing is the final phase in flight where the vehicle returns to the ground. A hard landing occurs when the vehicle impacts the ground with a greater vertical speed and force than in a normal landing. The average vertical speed in...
due to failure of one or more of its systems. The Beagle 2 was named after HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...
, which twice carried Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
during expeditions which would later lead to the theory of evolution.
Background
Beagle 2 was conceived by a group of British academics headed by Professor Colin PillingerColin Pillinger
Colin Trevor Pillinger, CBE, is a planetary scientist at the Open University in the UK. He was the principal investigator for the British Beagle 2 Mars lander project, and has done much work studying a group of Martian meteorites.In May 2005 Pillinger was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.-Early...
of the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
, in collaboration with the University of Leicester
University of Leicester
The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....
. Its purpose was to search for signs of life on Mars
Life on Mars
Scientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars owing to the planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. Fictional Martians have been a recurring feature of popular entertainment of the 20th and 21st centuries, but it remains an open question whether life currently exists on...
, past or present, and its name reflected this goal, as Professor Pillinger explained:
- "HMS BeagleHMS BeagleHMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...
was the ship that took DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
on his voyage around the world in the 1830s and led to our knowledge about life on Earth making a real quantum leap. We hope Beagle 2 will do the same thing for life on Mars."
A point at 10.6°N, 270°W in Isidis Planitia
Isidis Planitia
Isidis Planitia is a plain located inside a giant impact basin on Mars, centered at . It is the third biggest impact structure on the planet after the Hellas and Argyre basins – it is about 1500 km in diameter...
, a large flat sedimentary basin
Sedimentary basin
The term sedimentary basin is used to refer to any geographical feature exhibiting subsidence and consequent infilling by sedimentation. As the sediments are buried, they are subjected to increasing pressure and begin the process of lithification...
that overlies the boundary between the ancient highlands and the northern plains of Mars, was chosen as the landing site. The lander was expected to operate for about 180 days and an extended mission of up to one Martian year
Darian calendar
The Darian Calendar better known as the "Calendar of Adam" is a proposed system of time-keeping designed to serve the needs of any possible future human settlers on the planet Mars...
(687 Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
days) was thought possible. The Beagle 2 lander objectives were to characterize the landing site geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, mineralogy
Mineralogy
Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...
, geochemistry
Geochemistry
The field of geochemistry involves study of the chemical composition of the Earth and other planets, chemical processes and reactions that govern the composition of rocks, water, and soils, and the cycles of matter and energy that transport the Earth's chemical components in time and space, and...
and oxidation state
Oxidation state
In chemistry, the oxidation state is an indicator of the degree of oxidation of an atom in a chemical compound. The formal oxidation state is the hypothetical charge that an atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were 100% ionic. Oxidation states are typically represented by...
, the physical properties of the atmosphere and surface layers, collect data on Martian meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
and climatology
Climatology
Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences...
, and search for possible signatures of life.
Pillinger set up a consortium to design and build Beagle 2. The principal members and their initial responsibilities were:
- Open UniversityOpen UniversityThe Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
- Consortium leader & scientific experiments - University of Leicester - Project management, Mission management, Flight Operations Team, instrument management, and scientific experiments
- Astrium - Main industrial partner
- Martin-BakerMartin-BakerMartin-Baker Aircraft Co. Ltd. is a manufacturer of ejection seats and safety related equipment for aviation. The company origins were as an aircraft manufacturer before becoming a pioneer in the field of ejection seats...
- Entry, descent and landing system - Logica - Cruise, entry, descent and landing software
- SciSysSciSysSciSys PLC is a European computer software and services company based in the United Kingdom and Germany.-Overview:SciSys is a medium sized bespoke software and services company that specialises in solving complex problems, for example:...
- Ground segment and lander software - University of Wales, AberystwythUniversity of Wales, AberystwythAberystwyth University is a university located in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding Member Institution of the former federal University of Wales. As of late 2006, the university had over 12,000 students spread across seventeen academic departments.The university was founded in 1872 as...
- Robotic arm
In 2000, when the main development phase started, Astrium took over responsibility for program management, and Leicester assumed responsibility for mission management which involved the preparations for the operations post launch and the operations control center.
In an effort to publicize the project and gain financial support, its designers sought and received the endorsement and participation of British artists. The mission's call-sign was composed by the band Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
, and the 'test card' (Calibration Target Plate) intended for calibrating Beagle 2s cameras and spectrometers after landing was painted by Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
.
The Lander Operations Control Centre (LOCC) was located at the National Space Centre
National Space Centre
The National Space Centre is one of the United Kingdom's leading visitor attractions that is devoted to space science and astronomy. It is located in the city of Leicester, England, next to the River Soar on the A6.-History:...
in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, from which the spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
was being controlled, and was visible to the public visiting the center. The control center included operational systems for controlling the Beagle 2, analysis tools for processing engineering and scientific telemetry, virtual reality tools for preparing activity sequences, communications systems, and the Ground Test Model (GTM). The GTM was composed of various builds of the Beagle 2 systems, collected together to provide a full set of lander electronics. The GTM was used nearly continuously to validate the engineering and science commands, to rehearse the landing sequence, and to validate the onboard software.
Spacecraft and subsystems
Beagle 2 had a robotic arm known as the Payload Adjustable Workbench (PAW), designed to be extended after landing. The PAW contained a pair of stereoStereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
cameras, a microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
(with a 6 micrometre
Micrometre
A micrometer , is by definition 1×10-6 of a meter .In plain English, it means one-millionth of a meter . Its unit symbol in the International System of Units is μm...
resolution), a Mössbauer spectrometer, an X-ray spectrometer, a drill for collecting rock samples and a spotlamp. Rock samples were to be passed by the PAW into a mass spectrometer and gas chromatograph
Chromatography
Chromatography is the collective term for a set of laboratory techniques for the separation of mixtures....
in the body of the lander - the GAP (Gas Analysis Package), to measure the relative proportions of different isotope
Isotope
Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...
s of carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
. Since carbon is thought to be the basis of all life, these readings could have revealed whether the samples contained the remnants of living organisms.
In addition, Beagle 2 was equipped with a small "mole
Mole (animal)
Moles are small cylindrical mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have velvety fur; tiny or invisible ears and eyes; and short, powerful limbs with large paws oriented for digging. The term is especially and most properly used for the true moles, those of the Talpidae family in the...
" (Planetary Undersurface Tool, or PLUTO), to be deployed by the arm. PLUTO had a compressed spring
Spring (device)
A spring is an elastic object used to store mechanical energy. Springs are usually made out of spring steel. Small springs can be wound from pre-hardened stock, while larger ones are made from annealed steel and hardened after fabrication...
mechanism designed to enable it to move across the surface at a rate of 20 mm per second and to burrow into the ground and collect a subsurface sample in a cavity in its tip. The mole was attached to the lander by a power cable which could be used as a winch to bring the sample back to the lander.
The lander had the shape of a shallow bowl with a diameter of 1m and a depth of 0.25 m. The cover of the lander was hinged and folded open to reveal the interior of the craft which holds a UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
antenna, the 0.75 m long robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
arm, and the scientific equipment. The main body also contained the battery, telecommunication
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s, electronics, and central processor, heaters, and additional payload items (radiation and oxidation sensors). The lid itself further unfolded to expose four disk-shaped solar array
Photovoltaic module
A solar panel is a packaged, connected assembly of solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells...
s. The lander package had a mass of 69 kg at launch but the actual lander would have been only 33.2 kg at touchdown.
The ground segment itself was derived from the European Space Agency software kernel known as SCOS2000. In keeping with the low cost theme of the mission, the control software was the first of its type deployed on a laptop.
Mission profile
Mars Express launched from BaikonurBaikonur
Baikonur , formerly known as Leninsk, is a city in Kyzylorda Province of Kazakhstan, rented and administered by the Russian Federation. It was constructed to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome and was officially renamed Baikonur by Russian president Boris Yeltsin on December 20, 1995.The shape of the...
on 2 June 2003, at 17:45 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
(18:45 BST
British Summer Time
Western European Summer Time is a summer daylight saving time scheme, 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in the following places:* the Canary Islands* Portugal * Ireland...
). The Beagle 2 was a Mars lander initially mounted on the top deck of the Mars Express Orbiter. It was released from the Orbiter on a ballistic trajectory towards Mars on the 19th of December 2003 at 8:31 UT. Beagle 2 coasted for six days after release and was scheduled to enter the Martian atmosphere, at over 20,000 km/h, on the morning of the 25th of December. The lander was protected from the heat of entry by a heatshield coated with NORCOAT, an ablating material made by EADS
EADS
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. is a global pan-European aerospace and defence corporation and a leading defence and military contractor worldwide...
. Compression of the martian atmosphere and radiation from the hot gas are estimated to have led to a peak heating rate of around 100 W
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
/cm², comparable to the heat flux experienced by Mars Pathfinder
Mars Pathfinder
Mars Pathfinder was an American spacecraft that landed a base station with roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a lightweight wheeled robotic rover named Sojourner.Launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II booster a...
.
After deceleration in the Martian atmosphere, parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
s were to be deployed and about 1 km above the surface large airbag
Airbag
An Airbag is a vehicle safety device. It is an occupant restraint consisting of a flexible envelope designed to inflate rapidly during an automobile collision, to prevent occupants from striking interior objects such as the steering wheel or a window...
s were to inflate around the lander and protect it when it hit the surface. Landing was expected to occur at about 02:45 UT on 25 December (9:45 p.m. EST 24 December). After landing the bags were supposed to deflate and the top of the lander was to open. A signal was supposed to be sent to Mars Express after landing and another the next (local) morning to confirm that Beagle 2 survived the landing and the first night on Mars. A panoramic image of the landing area was then supposed to be taken using the stereo camera and a pop-up mirror, after which the lander arm would have been released. The lander arm was to dig up samples to be deposited in the various instruments for study, and the "mole" would have been deployed, crawling across the surface to a distance of about 3 metres from the lander and burrowing under rocks to collect soil samples for analysis.
The British government spent more than £22 million (US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
40 million) on Beagle 2, with the remainder of the total £44 million (US$80 million) coming from the private sector.
Mission progress
Although the Beagle 2 craft successfully deployed from the Mars Express "mother ship", confirmation of a successful landing was not forthcoming. Confirmation should have come on 25 December 2003, when the Beagle 2 should have contacted NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's 2001 Mars Odyssey
2001 Mars Odyssey
2001 Mars Odyssey is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectrometers and electronic imagers to hunt for evidence of past or...
spacecraft that was already in orbit. In the following days, the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank
Jodrell Bank
The Jodrell Bank Observatory is a British observatory that hosts a number of radio telescopes, and is part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester...
also failed to pick up a signal from Beagle 2. The team said they were "still hopeful" of finding a successful return signal.
Attempts were made throughout January and February 2004 to contact Beagle 2 using Mars Express. The first of these occurred on 7 January 2004, but ended in failure. Although regular calls were made, particular hope was placed on communication occurring on 12 January, when Beagle 2 was pre-programmed to expect the Mars Express probe to fly overhead, and on 2 February, when the probe was supposed to resort to the last communication back-up mode: Autotransmit. However, no communication was ever established with Beagle 2. Beagle 2 was declared lost on 6 February 2004, by the Beagle 2 Management Board. On 11 February, ESA announced an inquiry would be held into the failure of Beagle 2.
On 20 December 2005, Professor Pillinger released specially-processed images from the Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Global Surveyor
The Mars Global Surveyor was a US spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2...
which suggested that Beagle 2 came down in a crater at the landing site on Isidis Planitia. It was claimed that the blurry images show the primary impact site as a dark patch and a short distance away, Beagle 2 surrounded by the deflated airbags and with its solar panels extended. However, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a NASA multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and Exploration of Mars from orbit...
's HiRISE camera subsequently observed the area, in February 2007, and revealed that the crater was empty. While that mission ended in disaster, the Mars Express Orbiter that carried the Beagle 2 to Mars has been a success.
Failures in missions to Mars are common. As of 2010, of 38 launch attempts to reach the planet, only 19 have succeeded. See the so-called Mars Curse for details.
ESA/UK inquiry report
In May 2004, the report from the Commission of Inquiry on Beagle 2 was submitted to ESA and the UK's science minister Lord SainsburyDavid Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville
David John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville, FRS , is a British businessman and politician. From 1992 to 1997, he served as the Chairman of Sainsbury's . He was made a life peer in 1997, and currently sits in the House of Lords as a member of the Labour Party...
. Initially the full report was not published on the grounds of confidentiality, but a list of 19 recommendations was announced to the public.
Professor David Southwood, ESA's director of science, provided four scenarios of possible failures:
In addition, further scenarios appear plausible and consistent with the available body of data:
- Beagle may have jettisoned its airbags too early, before it had come to a complete rest on the surface. For mass and cost reasons, the airbag jettison device was designed to be triggered by a timer rather than by acceleration sensors that would have discerned when the lander package had stopped moving. Given that the landing package of NASA's Spirit roverSpirit roverSpirit, MER-A , is a robotic rover on Mars, active from 2004 to 2010. It was one of two rovers of NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission. It landed successfully on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin, Opportunity , landed on the other side of the planet...
mission rebounded off the surface in Gusev crater numerous times before coming to a standstill - taking much more time than anticipated - Beagle's timer may have been set to a too short time (see Section 5.4.8 of the Inquiry Report); - The parachute deployment sequence was designed triggered by three accelerometers. The system was not designed for a "best out of three" logic. Rather, the first accelerometer to compute that a safe deployment velocity had been reached would trigger the parachute deployment sequence, even if the accelerometer readout were faulty.
In February 2005, following comments from the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
Select Committee on Science and Technology, the report was made public, and Leicester University independently published a detailed mission report, including possible failure mode
Failure mode
Failure causes are defects in design, process, quality, or part application, which are the underlying cause of a failure or which initiate a process which leads to failure. Where failure depends on the user of the product or process, then human error must be considered.-Component failure:A part...
s, and a "lessons learned" pamphlet.
Beagle 2 in fiction
Beagle 2 was inaccurately portrayed as a rover and a JPL and NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
project in the 2007 Transformers movie. After landing on Mars it was revealed it was destroyed by a Decepticon 13 seconds after being activated. Afterwards the incident was classified above Top Secret by the US government, and declared a complete failure to the public (saying it crashed on Mars instead) but later became a warning that the Transformers were coming to Earth.
The plot of the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
episode "The Christmas Invasion
The Christmas Invasion
"The Christmas Invasion" is a 60-minute special episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is Christmas, but there is little cause for celebration as planet Earth is invaded by aliens known as the Sycorax...
" involves a fictional British robot probe to Mars, scheduled to touch down on Christmas Day, which fails in its mission (though in this story, due to alien intervention).
In the Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
game Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, Chapter 1 of the Holiday Set involves Beagle 2 being secretly co-opted by an unspecified organization, a freelance spy having hidden the lander's survival from everyone else at Mission Control while rerouting its controls to a laptop that she handed over to her handler.
See also
- Beagle 3Beagle 2: EvolutionBeagle 2: Evolution is a cancelled Mars lander mission which intended to search for life on Mars, past or present. Beagle 3 was the proposed successor to the unsuccessful British Beagle 2 Mars lander . The craft was also being designed by Professor Colin Pillinger, lead scientist on the previous...
(cancelled) - Life on MarsLife on MarsScientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars owing to the planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. Fictional Martians have been a recurring feature of popular entertainment of the 20th and 21st centuries, but it remains an open question whether life currently exists on...
- Atmospheric reentryAtmospheric reentryAtmospheric entry is the movement of human-made or natural objects as they enter the atmosphere of a celestial body from outer space—in the case of Earth from an altitude above the Kármán Line,...
- Unmanned space missions