Beagle 2
Beagle 2 as it would have looked on Mars
Organization:	ESA
Mission type:	Lander
Satellite of:	Mars
Orbital insertion date:	December 25, 2003
Launch date:	June 2, 2003
Launch vehicle:	Soyuz/Fregat
NSSDC ID:	2003-022C
Webpage:	Beagle2 official site
Mass:	33.2 kg
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Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. It is not known for certain that the lander reached the Martian surface; all contact with it was lost upon its separation from the Mars Express six days before its scheduled entry into the atmosphere. It may have missed Mars altogether, skipped off the atmosphere and entered an orbit around the sun, or burned up during its descent. If it reached the surface, it may have hit too hard or just simply failed to contact Earth due to a minor fault. Image File history File links Beagle2ontheground. ... This article is about the European Space Agency. ... Adjectives: Martian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 0. ... is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Soyuz rocket on launch pad. ... Fregat is a rocket stage developed in the NPO im. ... The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) is a department in NASAs Solar System Exploration Division. ... ESA redirects here. ... Concept model of the Mars Express spacecraft Main Engine Thrust for braking manouevre on Venus Express. ...

Background

Beagle 2 was conceived by a group of British academics headed by Professor Colin Pillinger of the Open University, in collaboration with the University of Leicester. Its purpose was to search for signs of Martian life, past or present, and its name reflected this goal, as Professor Pillinger explained: Colin Pillinger (born May 9, 1943) is a planetary scientist at the Open University in the UK. He graduated with a BSc and a Ph. ... Affiliations Alliance of Non-Aligned Universities, Association of Commonwealth Universities, European Association of Distance Teaching Universities, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Website http://www. ... University of Leicester seen from Victoria Park - Left to right: the Department of Engineering, the Attenborough tower, the Charles Wilson building. ... This article is about hypothetical native inhabitants of the planet Mars. ... For other uses, see Life (disambiguation). ...

"HMS Beagle was the ship that took Darwin 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, 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. HMS Beagle was a Cherokee class 10-gun brig of the Royal Navy, named after the beagle, a breed of dog. ... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... Quantum Leap is a science fiction television series that ran for 97 episodes from March 1989 to May 1993 on NBC. It follows the adventures of Dr. Samuel Beckett (played by Scott Bakula), a brilliant scientist who after researching time-travel, and doing experiments in something he calls The Imaging... Adjectives: Martian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 0. ... Topography of Isidis Planitia Isidis Planitia is a plain located inside a giant impact basin on Mars. ... The term sedimentary basin is used to refer to any geographical feature exhibiting subsidence and consequent infilling by sedimentation. ... The Darian Calendar is a system of time-keeping designed to serve the needs of any possible future human settlers on the planet Mars. ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ... This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Mineralogy is an earth science that involves the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals. ... 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 and soils, and the cycles of matter and energy that transport the Earths chemical components in time and space, and their interaction with... In chemistry, the oxidation state is an indicator of the degree of oxidation of an atom in a chemical compound. ... Atmosphere is the general name for a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass. ... // Meteorology (from Greek: μετέωρον, meteoron, high in the sky; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting. ... Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time,[1] and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences. ...

Pillinger set up a consortium to design and build Beagle 2. The principal members and their initial responsibilities were:

• Open University - Consortium leader & scientific experiments
• University of Leicester - Project management, Mission management, Flight Operations Team, instrument management, and scientific experiments
• Astrium - Main industrial partner
• Martin-Baker - Entry, descent and landing system
• Logica - Cruise, entry, descent and landing software
• SciSys - Ground segment and lander software
• University of Wales, Aberystwyth - Robotic arm

In 2000, when the main development phase started, Astrium took over responsibility for programme management, and Leicester assumed responsibility for mission management which involved the preparations for the operations post launch and the operations control centre. Affiliations Alliance of Non-Aligned Universities, Association of Commonwealth Universities, European Association of Distance Teaching Universities, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Website http://www. ... The University of Leicester is based in Leicester, England, with about 8,000 full-time students and over 10,000 distance-learning students, one of the larget distance learning populations of any UK university. ... ... Martin-Baker Aircraft is a manufacturer of aircraft seats and is the oldest existing maker of ejector seats. ... LogicaCMG is a telecommunications and IT consultancy company. ... SciSys PLC (LSE: SSY) is an innovative business and technology solutions company operating in a broad spectrum of market sectors including space, utilities, defence, government, communication, business services and transport. ... Affiliations University of Wales AMBA ACU Universities UK HiPACT Website http://www. ...

In an effort to publicise 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 2's cameras and spectrometers after landing was painted by Damien Hirst. Blur were an English rock band formed in Colchester in 1989. ... The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living by Damien Hirst (1991) Damien Hirst (born June 7, 1965) is an English artist and the most prominent of the group that has been dubbed Young British Artists (or YBAs). ...

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 centre. The control centre 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 comprised 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. The National Space Centre in Leicester The National Space Centre is one of the United Kingdoms leading visitor attractions devoted to space science and astronomy. ... Leicester city centre, looking towards the Clock Tower Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city and unitary authority in the English East Midlands. ... The Space Shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space Station. ...

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 stereo cameras, a microscope (with a 6 micrometre resolution), a Mössbauer spectrometer, an X-ray spectrometer, a drill for collecting rock samples and a spotlamp. The so-called Rock Corer/Grinder could collect a core sample from inside any rocks within reach of the robot arm. 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 isotopes 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. Stereo card image modified for crossed eye viewing. ... Robert Hookes microscope (1665) - an engineered device used to study living systems. ... A micrometre (American spelling: micrometer, symbol µm) is an SI unit of length equal to one millionth of a metre, or about a tenth of the diameter of a droplet of mist or fog. ... Mössbauer spectroscopy is a spectroscopic technique based on the Mössbauer effect. ... X-ray spectroscopy is a gathering name for several spectroscopic techniques for determining the electronic structure of materials by using x-ray excitation. ... Mass spectrometry is a technique for separating ions by their mass-to-charge (m/z) ratios. ... For the Second Person album, see Chromatography (album). ... For other uses, see Isotope (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Carbon (disambiguation). ...

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 about 1 cm every 5 seconds 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. For other uses, see Mole. ... For other uses, see Spring. ...

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, telecommunications, electronics, and central processor, heaters, and additional payload items (radiation and oxidation sensors). The lid itself further unfolded to expose four disk-shaped solar arrays. The lander package had a mass of 69 kg at launch but the actual lander would have been only 33.2 kg at touchdown. This article is about the radio frequency. ... For other uses, see robot (disambiguation). ... Copy of the original phone of Alexander Graham Bell at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris Telecommunication is the assisted transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... A photovoltaic module is composed of individual PV cells. ...

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 while the Lander Control Centre was located at the Leicester National Space Centre in a room that was permanently visible to the centre visitors, members of the public.

Mission profile

Mars Express launched from Baikonur at 17:45 UTC (18:45 BST) on 2 June 2003. 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 19 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 25 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. Map showing Baikonurs location in Kazakhstan. ... “UTC” redirects here. ... Time zones of Europe: Light colours indicate countries not observing daylight saving British Summer Time (BST) is the changing of the clocks in effect in the United Kingdom and Irish Summer Time (IST) in Republic of Ireland between the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October each... is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Oblique view of the Reull Vallis near the Hellas basin, rendered from data obtained by the Mars Express orbiters High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) The Mars Express Orbiter is part of the Mars Express program, a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Mars. ... is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V. (EADS) is a large European aerospace corporation, formed by the merger on July 10, 2000 of Aérospatiale-Matra of France, Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) of Spain, and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) of Germany. ... For other uses, see Watt (disambiguation). ...

After deceleration in the Martian atmosphere, parachutes were to be deployed and about 1 km above the surface large airbags 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. The top should have unfolded to expose the four solar array disks. Within the body of the lander a UHF antenna was to be deployed. 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. This article is about the device. ... For the Mozilla crash reporting software previously called Airbag, see Breakpad. ...

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. [1] USD redirects here. ...

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 NASA's 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. is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (IPA [ˈnæsə]) is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nations public space program. ... Artists concept of the 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft 2001 Mars Odyssey is an unmanned spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. ... The 76m Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory. ...

Attempts were made throughout January and February of 2004 to contact Beagle 2 using Mars Express. The first of these occurred on January 7, 2004, but ended in failure. Although regular calls were made, particular hope was placed on communication occurring on January 12, when Beagle 2 was pre-programmed to expect the Mars Express probe to fly overhead, and on February 2, when the probe was supposed to resort to the last communication back-up mode: Autotransmit. However, no communication was ever established with Beagle 2. Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 7th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

On December 31, 2003, it was reported that a crater was photographed in the center of the target landing site. It was originally believed that this could have been the final resting place of Beagle 2, the craft unable to transmit from the shadow of the crater walls; however, higher-resolution imagery later disproved this theory. is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tycho crater on Earths moon. ...

Beagle 2 was declared lost on February 6, 2004, by the Beagle 2 Management Board. On February 11, ESA announced an inquiry would be held into the failure of Beagle 2. is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Failures in missions to Mars are common. As of 2006, of 37 launch attempts to reach the planet, only 18 have succeeded. See the so-called Mars Curse for details. Computer-generated image of one of the two Mars Exploration Rovers which touched down on Mars in 2004. ...

Search for a possible crash site

On December 20, 2005, Professor Pillinger released specially-processed images^[1] 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. BBC analysis. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera observed the area in February 2007, revealing that the crater was empty^[2]. is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was a US spacecraft developed by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. ... NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. ...

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 Sainsbury. 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 the following scenarios on how the landing might have failed: David John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville (born 24 October 1940) is a British businessman, politician and life peer for the Labour Party. ...

• Beagle entered an atmosphere that was not predicted by scientists and could have burnt up. It may even have "bounced off into space". The amount of dust in the atmosphere often varies widely, changing its density and temperature characteristics.
• The probe's parachute or cushioning airbags failed to deploy or deployed at the wrong time;
• Beagle's backshell tangled with the parachute preventing it from opening properly;
• Beagle became wrapped up in its airbags or parachute on the surface and could not open.

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 modes, and a "lessons learned" pamphlet. Type Lower House Speaker Michael Martin, (Non-affiliated) since October 23, 2000 Leader Harriet Harman, (Labour) since June 28, 2007 Shadow Leader Theresa May, (Conservative) since May 5, 2005 Members 659 Political groups Labour Party Conservative Party Liberal Democrats Scottish National Party Plaid Cymru Democratic Unionist Party Sinn Féin... A Select Committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster System of parliamentary democracy. ...

Legacy

In 2004, Colin Pillinger announced plans to launch an improved successor, provisionally entitled Beagle 2: Evolution, in 2009. Beagle 2 : Evolution is the proposed successor to the unsuccessful Beagle 2 Mars lander which disappeared during its landing in 2003. ...

In 2007 the Johnson Space Center and Colin Pillinger announced plans to launch a updated version of Beagle 2 attached to a moon lander mission. ^[3] [2]

Beagle 2 in fiction

The concept for the Beagle 2 mission appears in the Transformers motion picture released in 2007, which inaccurately depicts the Beagle 2 as a rover, being destroyed by a Decepticon. Transformers is a 2007 live action science fiction film conceptually based on the Transformers franchise and toy line. ... A Mars Rover is an unmanned land vehicle for exploration of the planet Mars. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

In the novel Sunstorm by Arthur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter a Mars rover is named for Beagle 2. Sunstorm is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. ... Arthur C. Clarke, considered by many to be a grand master of science fiction and communication satellites Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (born December 16, 1917) is a British author and inventor, probably most famous for his science fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Stephen Baxter (born in Liverpool, 13 November 1957) is a British hard science fiction author. ...

See also

• Exploration of Mars
• Space exploration
• Atmospheric reentry
• Unmanned space missions

Computer-generated image of one of the two Mars Exploration Rovers which touched down on Mars in 2004. ... Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer space, both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft. ... “Reentry” redirects here. ... It has been suggested that Space probe be merged into this article or section. ...

References

A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...

External links

• Beagle 2's Official Site
• Mars Express
• Beagle 2 Mission Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
• BBC guide to Beagle 2
• NSSDC page on Beagle 2
• Beagle 2 probe 'spotted' on Mars(BBC News Online December 20, 2005)
• Beagle 2 may have sped to its death (New Scientist, 8 March 2004 )
• ESA/UK Commission of Inquiry report. (PDF file)
• University of Leicester Mission Report and Lessons Learned