spacetoday.net: UK Parliament blames funding for Beagle 2 failure

Posted: Tue, Nov 2, 2004, 7:49 PM ET (0049 GMT)
Beagle 2 lander illustration (Beagle 2)

A committee of the British House of Commons concluded that a lack of sufficient funding in critical phases of the Beagle 2 mission make it likely that the Mars lander would fail. The report, released by the Science and Technology Committee on Tuesday, found that while the British government was "admirably enthusiastic" about the project, it was unable to provide the financial backing needed to permit the mission to enter its development and testing phases on a timely basis. Beagle 2, which flew to Mars on ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, landed on the surface on Christmas Say 2003 but failed to establish communications with Earth. The decision to develop Beagle 2 separately from Mars Express was criticized by the committee and that oversight of Beagle 2 by the UK government and ESA was "lacking".