Out of this world: Five fun facts about Beagle 2

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Speclist preparing the Beagle 2 lander as part of the European Space Agency's Mars Express Mission to be launched on June 2, 2003 Credit: Sergei Kazak/Photas/Tass/Press Association Images

1. What's in a name?

It was a groundbreaking mission designed to discover whether there was life on Mars. So why was it named after a breed of dog?

Well, it wasn't. The name Beagle 2 was inspired by the survey ship that took a young Charles Darwin on a journey to South America, Australia and New Zealand in the 1830s.

Charles Darwin Credit: dpa/DPA/Press Association Images

2. When art and science combine

Blur composed the 'call-sign' for the Beagle 2 craft Credit: Yui Mok/PA Archive/Press Association Images

The designers of Beagle 2 were determined to secure the funding they needed to put a lander on Mars.

To do that, they courted musicians and artists to drive the publicity that would bring in the money they needed.

Chart-topping rock band Blur composed a haunting call-sign which was due to be played when the probe touched down on Mars. It never did, though, because Beagle 2 lost contact with Earth.

The craft's 'test card' - or Calibration Target Plate - which was meant to calibrate the lander's cameras and spectrometers on Mars was painted by Damien Hirst.

3. The Mars Lander crash-diet

Lead scientist and designer of the probe, Professor Colin Pillinger celebrates the successful separation of the Mars probe Beagle 2 from the orbiter section, Mars Express Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Beagle 2 weighed 69kg, or 11 stone.

In 1997, scientists had designed the probe to weigh 108kg. But the team were forced to go back to the drawing board when they were told that the Mars Express could only carry 60kg. They managed to trim the design down to 69kg, meaning the probe would have weighed only 30kg on Mars.

4. No couch potato

Professor Colin Pillinger Credit: Johnny Green/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Professor Colin Pillinger died in 2014, so he never lived to find out what had happened to Beagle 2.

The brilliant space scientist said the secret to his genius lay on his dairy farm. He claimed that he was able to think the hardest when he was milking cows, a hobby he had to give up when he was diagnosed with progressive multiple sclerosis in 2005.

In an appearance on Desert Island Discs Pillinger told Kirsty Young that, even as a young boy, he'd been determined to make the most of each day:

Professor Pillinger owned a dairy farm Credit: Frank May/DPA/Press Association Images

5. Fair winds and following seas

Beagle 2 hitched a ride to space with Mars Express - the European Space Exploration mission Credit: NASA Hubble Space Telescope/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Beagle 2 hitched a ride to space with Mars Express - the European Space Exploration mission.

Its name comes from the astonishing speed in which the spacecraft was designed and built. But the name also describes the spaceship's relatively short interplanetary voyage. Mars Express arrived in record time because it was launched when the orbits of Earth and Mars brought them closer together than they had been in about 60,000 years.