Plaque honours Mars mission scientist

A museum plaque has been unveiled in honour of the scientist who developed the Beagle 2 probe - the first British and European spacecraft to land on another planet.

The tribute, at the M Shed in Bristol, recognises the space probe landing on Mars on Christmas Day 2003 and honours the contribution to the mission of the late Bristol-born scientist Professor Colin Pillinger.

"He was exceptional," said UK Space Agency former chief scientist Chris Lee who worked on Beagle 2 with Pillinger. "He managed to get everybody excited about space exploration."

Another 12 plaques were announced earlier this year to be installed at a number of sites linked to the historic landing.

Lee was one of the Filton space crew who contributed to the Beagle 2 mission before he became a leading scientist for the UK Space Agency.

"We were at the time the principal place for space exploration in the UK and Colin came to us because of our experience," Lee said.

"He was always very positive, one of those can-do figures. Where we would see problems, he would see solutions."

The unveiling of the Beagle 2 plaque, located in the People Gallery at the M Shed, took place on Monday.

Bristol City Council's Head of Culture Philip Walker said they wanted to celebrate the achievements of Pillinger, who grew up in Kingswood, and his team.

"It's great to be able to celebrate his contribution to the city," he said.

Pillinger, who died in 2014, passed away before pictures of the landing site revealed Beagle 2 did not crash-land on Mars as had previously been thought.

But although the landing of Beagle 2 was successful, it was branded as a failed mission as it was unable to connect back to Earth once it landed.

The mission landing is still regarded, however, as an historic success for the European Space Agency which has subsequently influenced future exploration.

In the years that followed the Beagle 2 mission, the UK contributed significantly to flagship space projects, including the Rosetta comet chaser and the James Webb Space Telescope.

"Beagle 2 started the UK down the line of being able to do planetary missions and knowing it could engineer them," said Professor Mark Sims, who managed the Beagle 2 mission.

A more recent example is the ExoMars Rover, Rosalind Franklin, which is due for launch in 2028 with the aim of finding out if life has ever existed on Mars.

"It's a European Space Agency mission but the rover was built in Stevenage and it will land on Mars hopefully in 2030 and look for signs of life which is what Beagle 2 was aiming to do," Sims said.

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