Go David:

Beagle's impact on the future

BBC News Online's science editor Dr David Whitehouse asks what lessons have been learnt from the loss of the UK-led Beagle 2 Mars lander.
There has never been a space mission like Beagle 2 and, if Monday's report into its loss is acted upon, there will never be one like it in the future.

That is not to say European space scientists will not again build a probe to land on Mars. The scientific pull of the Red Planet is too great.

Beagle almost got there and should be applauded for that, but the report into its loss shows that the reality of the project did not match its public persona.

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