X-Nico

4 unusual facts about Beagle 2


Beagle 2

The mission's call-sign was composed by the band Blur, and the 'test card' (Calibration Target Plate) intended for calibrating Beagle 2s cameras and spectrometers after landing was painted by Damien Hirst.

After landing on Mars, it was revealed it was destroyed by a Decepticon 13 seconds after being activated.

In May 2004, the report from the Commission of Inquiry on Beagle 2 was submitted to ESA and the UK's science minister Lord Sainsbury.

No Distance Left to Run

The B-side "Beagle 2", was sent aboard Beagle 2, an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission.


Education in Bristol

The city was birthplace of Colin Pillinger, planetary scientist behind the Beagle 2 Mars lander project, and is home to Adam Hart-Davis, presenter of various science related television programmes, and the psychologists Susan Blackmore, Richard Gregory, and Derren Brown.

Lindstrand Balloons

Per Lindstrand also independently operates a separate company, Lindstrand Technologies, which designs and builds gas balloons, innovative buildings, specialized aerospace equipment (including an advanced parachute for the Beagle 2 Mars-lander) and cutting edge inflatable structures including aircraft hangars, plugs for fire-containment for road tunnels and flood prevention systems.


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