page_title: Beagle 2
section_title: Mission profile
hierarchical_section_title: Beagle 2 / Mission profile
caption_attribution_description: Isidis basin (Mars) topography
context_page_description: The Beagle 2 is an inoperative British Mars lander that was transported by the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. It was intended for an astrobiology mission that would have looked for past life on, and down to 1.5 metres under, the surface of Mars.
  The spacecraft was successfully deployed from the Mars Express on 19 December 2003 and was scheduled to land on the surface of Mars on 25 December; however, no contact was received at the expected time of landing on Mars. ESA declared the mission lost in February 2004, after numerous attempts to contact the spacecraft were made.
  The Beagle 2's fate remained a mystery until January 2015 when it was located on the surface of Mars in a series of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera. The images suggest that it landed safely, but two of the spacecraft's four solar panels failed to deploy, blocking the spacecraft's communications antenna.
  The Beagle 2 is named after HMS Beagle, the ship used by Charles Darwin.
context_section_description: Mars Express launched from Baikonur on 2 June 2003 at 17:45 UTC. Beagle 2 was a Mars lander initially mounted on the top deck of the Mars Express orbiter. It was released from the orbiter on a ballistic trajectory towards Mars on 19 December 2003. Beagle 2 coasted for six days after release and entered the Martian atmosphere at about 20,000 km/h (12,000 mph) on the morning of 25 December. The lander was protected from the heat of entry by a heat shield coated with NORCOAT, an ablating material made by EADS. Compression of the Martian atmosphere and radiation from the hot gas are estimated to have led to a peak heating rate of around 100 W/cm².
  After deceleration in the Martian atmosphere, parachutes deployed, and at about 200 m above the surface large airbags inflated around the lander to protect it when it hit the surface. Landing occurred at about 02:45 UTC on 25 December 2003.
  After analysis of the imagery obtained in 2015, it has been conjectured that after landing, the bags deflated and the top of the lander opened. However these images suggest that at most only two of the four solar panels deployed. A signal was supposed to be sent to Mars Express after landing and another the next (local) morning to confirm that Beagle 2 survived the landing and the first night on Mars. A panoramic image of the landing area was then supposed to be taken using the stereo camera and a pop-up mirror, after which the lander arm would have been released. The lander arm was to dig up samples to be deposited in the various instruments for study, and the "mole" would have been deployed, crawling across the surface to a distance of about 3 metres from the lander and burrowing under rocks to collect soil samples for analysis.
  The British government spent more than GB£22 million (US$40 million) on Beagle 2, with the remainder of the total GB£44 million (US$80 million) coming from the private sector.
caption: Beagle 2's landing site was a 174 by 106 km (108 by 66 mi) landing ellipse within Isidis Planitia basin.[15]
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