Colin Pillinger
Colin Pillinger
Colin Trevor Pillinger, CBE FRS FRAS FRGSwas an English planetary scientist. He was a founding member of the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at Open University in Milton Keynes, he was also the principal investigator for the failed British Beagle 2 Mars lander project, and worked on a group of Martian meteorites...
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth9 May 1943
areas certain discover life mars ought perfectly planetary protection sensible
Planetary protection is important and if one were to discover life on Mars then it would be perfectly sensible to say that there are certain areas that ought to be protected,
mars people send
At the beginning, some people thought we were a 'me too' mission: Send a lander to Mars and take a picture.
discourage lost
A little set back like a lost lander should not discourage visionaries.
chopped save serious
But this is serious science. I wouldn't let one of these instruments get chopped off to save anything.
building extra lift rocks running steel supplies thousands
You'd also want to use lunar rocks as building supplies - it is so costly to lift even an extra kilo of steel into space, running to many hundreds of thousands of dollars,
life mars
All the ingredients for life on Mars exist.
happy intent life trade unlike
Unlike (the NASA) robots, Beagle 2 won't be going sightseeing. It is intent on discovering where there is or was life on Mars. It is happy to trade measurements for mobility.