Pioneering scientist Professor Colin Pillinger has died, the agency that represents him said.
The planetary scientist, who was the driving force behind Britain's Mars lander Beagle 2, suffered a brain haemorrhage at his home in Cambridge.
The professor, who was awarded the CBE in 2003, later died in hospital.
Prof Pillinger's family said his death was "devastating and unbelievable".
He became a professor in interplanetary science at the Open University in 1991, and earned a host of other qualifications during his prestigious career along with numerous awards.
He was most famous for the ill-fated Beagle 2 mission to Mars, which was supposed to land on the planet on Christmas Day 2003 and search for signs of life, but vanished without a trace.
It was last seen heading for Mars on December 19, after separating from its European Space Agency mothership Mars Express.
Afterwards Prof Pillinger spoke of his frustration at the failed probe, and said there was nothing that should not have worked.
Prof Pillinger, who died aged 70, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2005.
He said at the time that the illness would not stop his efforts to get Beagle technology back on Mars.
He began his career at Nasa, analysing samples of moon rock on the Apollo programme.
The father-of-two gained a PhD in chemistry from the University of Swansea before becoming a research fellow at Cambridge University.
Many took to Twitter to pay tribute to the professor.
Science fiction author Keith Mansfield wrote: "V sorry to hear about Prof Colin Pillinger via @spacecharlieuk. Great advocate for space & of course #Mars."
Space scientist Charles Laing tweeted: "Colin Pillinger was a true visionary, accomplished scientist & inspiration to those around him - sorely missed."
The European Space Agency wrote: "Shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Professor Colin Pillinger."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article