The scientist behind Europe’s lander mission to Mars has launched an extraordinary attack on the American space agency, Nasa, and its plans to return to the Red Planet. Professor Colin Pillinger said the agency’s twin rovers would be engaged in little more than a jaunt around the planet’s rocky surface when they touch down in 2004 and would be part of some questionable science. He claimed Europe’s static lander, named Beagle 2, would achieve far more than Nasa’s so-called Athena package and at a fraction of the cost.