The story is familiar: how one man created a British space mission to the planet Mars, and how that mission failed. Against impossible odds, faced with chronic underfunding, enormous technical problems and scepticism from the space community, Colin Pillinger hung on like a rabid dog to his dream of doing valuable science on the red planet.

The name of the pancake-shaped science lab that Pillinger and his colleagues designed was Beagle 2. But this book is also a story of the original Beagle, the ship of Charles Darwin's famous expedition. Pillinger interweaves the stories of the sailing ship and the space ship into one compelling narrative, recounting comparisons between the trials and tribulations of both expeditions. In less capable hands this approach might have been clumsy, but Pillinger turns out to be a surprisingly good writer and holds our attention throughout. The book is also poignant because we know the tragic outcome of Pillinger's tireless efforts, in stark contrast to Darwin's expeditions, which, although obviously not appreciated at the time, were immensely successful: they changed our view of ourselves, our planet and our origins. In equipping his tiny science lab with instruments to search for life on the red planet, Pillinger's spacecraft was aptly-named indeed. You may think you know the story of Beagle 2, but there are quite a few surprises along the way. A great read, and you can rest assured we haven't seen the last of Pillinger and his impossible dreams. A real British bulldog of a man.