Beagle 2: How the UK Landed on Mars

In the early 21st century, a group of British adventurers, scientists, engineers and explorers launched a mission to Mars. The mission was called Beagle 2 and was led by the late Professor Colin Pillinger. The mission attempted to answer one of the most profound questions asked by humanity (and David Bowie): Is there life on Mars? Beagle 2 was expected to land in 2003, but fell silent. A core of enthusiasts continued the hunt for Beagle 2 and, 11 years later, it was found. Beagle 2 had not crash landed and recent analysis suggests that it may still be operating today. We will tell the amazing story of how the UK became the third nation in history to land on Mars with the help of a group of Christmas-jumper-wearing-boffins, led by a mutton-chop wearing farmer, who designed a probe on the back of a beer mat and knocked it up in a shed. Dean started his career working on the British-built Beagle 2 Mars at Leicester University. Although it was declared lost, 11 years later the craft was found to have made it in one piece to the Martian surface and most probably conducted some science. It was immediately declared the winner of the interplanetary hide and seek competition 2004-2015. He enjoys reading science fiction (hard, not soft), trolling conspiracy theorists on the internet and generally not to taking life too seriously.

You can listen to Beagle 2: How the UK Landed on Mars online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Beagle 2: How the UK Landed on Mars is an episode from Edinburgh Skeptics Presents... by Edinburgh Skeptics Society.

This episode is 45:23 long.

This episode was published on Jan 14, 2018.

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