Fresh inquiry no closer to solving Beagle 2 mystery

THE fate of Beagle 2, the £50 million (€74m) British space probe that vanished while attempting to land on Mars, was no clearer yesterday, after the publication of a second inquiry report.

A six-month internal investigation by the project team was unable to pinpoint why the mission failed on Christmas Day.

One theory is that unusually thin air over the landing site, probably caused by turbulent dust storms, disrupted the descent and landing systems.