Space & Astronomy

13 new plaques set to commemorate the UK's first ever Mars landing

By T.K. Randall
June 9, 2026

Image Credit: (PD) NASA via Wikimedia Commons Few nations can say that the've succeeded in landing a spacecraft on Mars and back on Christmas Day 2003, the UK did exactly that (with a little help from the European Space Agency).

Conceived by Professor Colin Pillinger of the Open University, Beagle 2 was designed to deploy solar panels on the Martian surface where it would conduct experiments and radio home the results.

When the probe detached from the Mars Express orbiter, everything had appeared to be in full working order as it headed down through the atmosphere for what should have been a textbook landing.

Sadly though, as the hours ticked by, it became increasingly apparent that the probe wasn't sending any signals back and by February the following year Beagle 2 was declared officially lost. The probe's fate would go on to remain a complete mystery until 2015 when NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter finally managed to capture an image of it on the surface of the planet.

Then, in 2016 following a renewed analysis of the images by researchers from De Montfort and Leicester Universities, it was discovered that Beagle 2 had not only landed on Mars, but had even managed to deploy three of its solar panels and may have actually functioned for several months.

Exactly what stopped it from communicating with the Earth, however, remains unclear.

Sadly, Pillinger himself died before this discovery was made, meaning that he never found out that his probe had actually succeeded in landing on Mars.

Source: BBC News

Tags: Mars