Beagle 2

Beagle 2 (carried on Mars Express)

Agency

UK/ESA

Launched

2003-06-02

Landed

2003-12-25

Mass

33.2 kg

Technical Details

Agency	UK/ESA
Country	🇬🇧🇪🇺 United Kingdom / Europe
Landing Site	Isidis Planitia (~11.5°N, 90.5°E)
Power System	Solar panels (clam-shell petal design)
Mass	33.2 kg

Key Findings

1.Confirmed by MRO HiRISE imagery in January 2015 to have landed successfully — 12 years after the mission was declared lost
2.Three of four solar-panel 'petals' deployed correctly; the fourth petal appears to have jammed, blocking the radio antenna
3.Smallest spacecraft to have successfully survived Mars atmospheric entry and touchdown at that time
4.Would have searched for signs of life using the Gas Analysis Package (GAP) mass spectrometer
5.Post-failure analysis identified a possible spring mechanism deployment failure preventing full petal opening

Mission Outcome

Beagle 2 landed successfully on Christmas Day 2003 but could not complete communications because a fourth solar-panel petal failed to deploy, blocking its antenna. The spacecraft lay undiscovered until NASA's MRO spacecraft photographed the landing site in 2015, resolving twelve years of uncertainty. The mission's near-success informed redesigns for later ESA Mars landers and revived debate about UK involvement in planetary science.

Sources

[1] NASA NSSDCA — retrieved 2026-06-01
[2] ESA — retrieved 2026-06-01

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