Investigators have concluded the Beagle 2 Mars probe should never have been given the go-ahead by the European Space Agency, BBC News Online reported Thursday.
The ESA originally backed the mission, which piggy-backed on board the agency's Mars Express Orbiter in 2003 and was headed by Colin Pillinger, a scientist and professor at London's Open University.
The little lander – named after the ship that carried Charles Darwin on his historic voyage to the Galapagos Islands in the 19th century – apparently crashed on Mars on Dec 25, 2003. No cause has yet been determined.
An ESA committee reviewing the incident said the agency made several fundamental errors, including treating the lander as simply another instrument aboard the Mars Express, instead of as a separate spacecraft.
A second error involved estimates about the characteristics of the Martian atmosphere, whic! h were not as accurate as NASA's for its twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.
The committee also said the mission was underfunded and its logistics were too complex for Pillinger's team.
"It should have been made clear to all stakeholders, including the public, that the risk of failure was significantly higher than had been anticipated," the committee said.
