He was a founding member of the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at Open University in Milton Keynes,[4] he was also the principal investigator for the British Beagle 2 Mars lander project, and worked on a group of Martian meteorites.

[8] His father, Alfred, a manual worker for the Gas Board, and his mother, Florence (née Honour), also had a daughter Doreen (the local historian D.P.

The subjects which I research already enjoy popular interest; by combining them to produce a story of life told from the genealogy of its elements, my aim is to appeal to the widest possible audience, using an interdisciplinary approach to attempt to unravel the time-honoured puzzle, where do I come from?

He was responsible for training and supporting a large number of experts in the field as well as helping to unite the space science and industrial communities in the UK.

[citation needed] Pillinger played a role in the Philae lander that was part of the Rosetta mission which successfully made its rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in 2014.

In particular he was an advocate of the idea of deploying the lander Philae to conduct scientific experiments in situ, and was instrumental in getting the Ptolemy device accepted as part of the science payload.

Recent[vague] research into photographs taken of the landing site by a Mars orbiter suggest that as many as three of the four solar panels may have been successfully opened.

The commission inquiring into the mission's apparent failure also apportioned blame towards Pillinger's management of the overall project as a contributing factor.

[2] Pillinger enlisted British rock band Blur to write a song to be Beagle 2's call sign back home.