David Southwood from the Cassini mission to Saturn, landed successfully on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Southwood later described the Huygens landing as "the highest point of all" from his ESA career. Southwood had also led the team which developed the magnetometer on the main Cassini spacecraft. During 2003 ESA launched a largely British lander, Beagle 2, which was carried to Mars by the larger Mars Express spacecraft. All contact with Beagle 2 was lost before it reached the surface of Mars, and the project was considered a failure. ESA was heavily criticised for its management of the mission. Southwood suffered public criticism
Mars Express half of comparable U.S. missions. On 19 October 2014, the ESA reported the "Mars Express" was healthy after the Comet Siding Spring flyby of Mars on 19 October 2014 — as are, as well, all NASA Mars orbiters and ISRO's orbiter, the Mars Orbiter Mission. Arriving at Mars in 2003, ago (and counting), it is the second longest surviving, continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth, behind only NASA's still active 2001 Mars Odyssey. The "Mars Express" mission is dedicated to the orbital (and originally in-situ) study of the interior, subsurface, surface and atmosphere, and environment