Plaques were unveiled across the United Kingdom to commemorate the nation's initial spacecraft reaching another planet. Professor Colin Pillinger persuaded politicians, pop stars, and the general public to support a British mission to Mars.
Pillinger completed his academic studies at Swansea University. At Cambridge University, Pillinger analysed meteorites recovered from Antarctica, which were thought to originate from Mars.
By the 1980s, Pillinger established himself as one of the founders of the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at The Open University in Milton Keynes. Pillinger conceived the initial concept of sending a lander, which his wife named Beagle 2, to Mars.
The journey for Beagle 2 received official approval in 1999. Blur, a Britpop band, assisted Pillinger by composing a unique call-sign for Beagle 2.
Artist Damien Hirst created a spot painting intended for Beagle 2's onboard camera calibration target. Beagle 2 was estimated to cost around £50 million.
Mars Express launched on 2 June 2003, carrying Beagle 2 aboard. The spacecraft was scheduled to reach Mars on Christmas Day.
However, the signal confirming Beagle 2's safe landing never arrived. Pillinger and his team suspected Beagle 2 descended too rapidly after encountering Martian atmospheric conditions.
ESA rejected Pillinger's proposed follow-up mission, Beagle 3, in 2004. Pillinger stated, "There's nobody in the UK I didn't reach".
Pillinger passed away in May 2014 following a brain haemorrhage and subsequent coma. Nasa captured high-resolution images showing Beagle 2 largely intact, situated five kilometres from its intended landing zone.
These images verified that Beagle 2's parachutes and cushioning airbags had deployed as planned. Communication was prevented because Beagle 2's petal-like solar panels failed to open fully, trapping the antenna.
