euesa1-5, Exercise 2: Beagle 2

Model answer:

Beagle 2 was a British project led by Colin Pillinger of the Open University. ESA provided the ride on Mars Express but did not build or mainly fund the lander, unlike Huygens, which was an ESA probe.

It was released in December 2003 and was due to land on Christmas Day, but no signal was received, and it was declared lost in early 2004. An inquiry looked at funding and management. In 2015 images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter showed it on the surface: it had landed, but had apparently opened only partly, probably blocking its antenna. Pillinger had died in 2014.

Check the details against the inquiry and the 2015 reports.