Beagle two Mars Probe a Planning Failure

As the Beagle two Mars probe designed jointly by the European Space Agency and British National Space Center headed to Mars in December of 2003, contact was lost and it was never heard from again. In retrospect, it appears that inadequate project planning (and replanning) was to blame. Excessive pressure on time, cost, and weight compromised the mission right from the start. With insuffi cient public funding, the design team had to spend much of their time raising private funds instead of addressing diffi cult technical issues. In addition, late changes forced the team to reduce the Beagle’s weight from 238 pounds to 132 pounds! And when the three airbags failed to work properly in testing, a parachute design was substituted but inadequately tested due to lack of time.

A review commission recommended that in the future:

• Requisite fi nancing be available at the outset of a project

• Formal project reviews be conducted on a regular basis

• Milestones should be established where all stakeholders reconsider the project

• Expectations of potential failure should be included in the funding consideration

• Robust safety margins should be included and funded for uncertainties

1. What should the project manager have done about the challenges facing this project?

2. Are the recommendations complete? Would you add anything else?