From www.time.com “The British space program hasn't had a leading role since James Bond went into orbit in Moonraker. But in June a small, unmanned pod named Beagle 2 (after Charles Darwin's famous ship) has a chance to change all that. Masterminded by Professor Colin Pillinger, an eccentric and exuberant planetary scientist at Britain's remote learning Open University, the Beagle is on track to beat the mighty NASA program, which is set to send its next Mars probe at about the same time” http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901030113-404242,00.html?cnn=yes
This article fails to mention that Astrium, a long time builder of spacecraft, is designing and building this spacecraft with help from a wide variety of other aerospace companies and organizations.
