Colin Pillinger (born 1943) is a planetary scientist at the Open University in the UK. He graduated with a BSc and a Ph.D. at the University of Wales Swansea.

He was the principal investigator for the Beagle 2 Mars lander project.

Pillinger took a sometimes forceful role in advocating the Beagle 2 project. In one case, he derided NASA's Mars Exploration Rover project, and touted his own project. This was the source of some embarrassment, when his own lander failed, and both of NASA's rovers landed successfully and completed their missions. Beagle 2 is believed to have had a failure related to the parachute system, but the exact reason will likely not be known until an on-site assessment can be performed. Ironically in view of his criticism of NASA, Pillinger has asked the agency to allow him to "piggyback" on a future mission.

Several months later, on September 8, 2004, another spacecraft with which Pillinger had a design role, Genesis, suffered a parachute failure during the descent phase.

He was elected an FRS in 1993 and made a CBE in 2003.

External links

• Colin Pillinger homepage
• Beagle 2 - in conversation with Colin Pillinger from a talk at the Royal Society