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He told the BBC that Prof Pillinger had played a critical role in raising the profile of the British space programme and had inspired "young people to dream big dreams".

The Science Minister David Willetts called him a "delightful man and a free spirit". And added: "His vision of space exploration and his dedication to it inspired the nation."

And Prof Mark Sims, the mission manager on the 2003 Beagle 2 probe, recalled: "Colin was a top rate scientist. You might not have agreed with him but he always went for what he believed in.[http://www.alokaprobe.com/Defibrillator-Battery Defibrillator Battery] It was a privilege to have known him and worked with him, both as a friend and colleague."

'Unfinished business' Prof Pillinger was the driving force behind Beagle 2, which was built to search for life on Mars.

With his bushy sideburns and Victorian air, he was a modern day Charles Darwin. He even named his spacecraft after Darwin's research vessel HMS Beagle

By Pallab GhoshScience correspondent, BBC News

The little craft was carried piggyback to the Red Planet on a European satellite, but vanished without trace after being dropped off to make its landing.

Prof Pillinger continued to push space agencies to complete what he called "unfinished business on Mars", and was sometimes critical of the delays that have seen Europe's follow up rover mission, ExoMars, slip back to 2018. A proper British boffin who will be fondly remembered for the Beagle Mars mission."

Apollo samplesAt the age of 62, Prof Pillinger was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which made it difficult for him to walk.

He said the illness would not diminish his research, and his motorised buggy was often seen racing around scientific conferences.

"Bloody minded," was how he described his own approach to life. "If I ever said as a child 'I can't do this', my father would always say, 'There's no such thing as can't'," he recalled on the BBC's Desert Island Discs programme.

With colleagues at the Open University, where he headed the Department of Physical Sciences until 2005, he was keenly looking forward to this year's Rosetta mission.

The pan European venture plans to put a lander on a comet this November, and an OU instrument will help investigate the object's chemistry.

"It's important to note that Colin's contribution to planetary science goes back to working on Moon samples from Apollo, as well as his work on meteorites," said Dr Parker.

"While we still don't know for certain what happened to Beagle 2, I'd say that the project was a turning point in bringing together the space science and industrial communities in the UK   which didn't used to speak with one voice. Beagle 2 wasn't built in Colin's backyard: it was the product of UK brains and hard work in many companies and universities."

Science advocateFor the British media, Prof Pillinger was often the go to man for a comment when a new piece of space science was published.

The press appreciated his straight talking, and the whiskers and the Bristolian accent just added to his appeal.

He had an especially sharp eye for a good headline, once demonstrating the relatively small scale of Beagle 2 by loading a replica into a supermarket trolley and wheeling it through the car park of the Open University. The footage was picked up by the satirical programme Have I Got News for You? ensuring that news of the mission reached a far wider audience.

On the publication of his biography in 2010, My Life On Mars, he recalled an event that made him realise that the lost probe would be his legacy.

"I pulled into the OU car park and there was this huge lorry, a guy delivering a load of bricks   a builder, obviously," he told the BBC.

I can think of nobody else who could have made Beagle 2 happen   he was so passionate, determined and thick skinnedProf John Zarnecki, OU colleague