Shropshire Star

Where Beagles dare: Spacecraft - and its Shropshire-made parachutes - on surface of Mars

It was named after one of Shropshire's most famous sons – and The Beagle 2's journey was helped with parachutes made in the county.

Published
The Beagle 2: Artist's impression issued by the European Space Agency

Now it has been proved that the British spacecraft that disappeared as it approached Mars in search of alien life successfully landed on the Red Planet's surface.

The news is a relief to scientists behind the £50 million project – as well as staff at Oswestry-based Lindstrand Technologies who designed the parachute that was given the job of ensuring the craft had a safe landing.

High resolution pictures taken by Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft show The Beagle 2 probe, named after the ship used by Shrewsbury's Charles Darwin, is on the surface and intact.

A high-resolution picture of the Mars surface

It had been assumed the craft had been destroyed. But the images taken from 185 miles above Mars in 2013 and again last year show that the small lander, the size of a large motorcycle tyre, touched down successfully just 5km from its intended landing site in Isidis Planitia. However, they believe it did not fully deploy its panels, preventing it from contacting Earth.

Despite the failure the craft to make contact, today's news means Beagle 2 is the first British and European spacecraft to successfully land on Mars.

Shropshire-based businessman Per Lindstrand

Lindstrand Technologies, based in Maesbury Road, Oswestry, created the most advanced parachute ever built or the Beagle 2 project. It enable the craft to slow down from speeds of Mach 1.3 to just 17 metres per second.

Today's revelations prove that the parachutes worked as they were designed to do.

Professor Mark Sims of the University of Leicester, who was mission manager of the Beagle 2 project, said he was "elated" by the Discovery, which brought them closure.

The revelation comes after the death of Professor Colin Pillinger, the project's driving force, at the age of 70 in May. His daughter Shusanah said he would have been pleased at the success and able to "defy the critics who want to say that Beagle 2 is a failure".

The blurry images pictures show three objects in a different area to pictures taken in 2005 which were believed to show the spacecraft.

Because of the partial deployment, it will not be possible to recover Beagle 2 and its data.

A graphic showing where the long-lost probe might be located
Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.