The landing spacecraft sent to Mars by the United Kingdom has finally be found after it went missing for 12 years. The Beagle 2 Mars Lander lost contact on Christmas 2003, and it was only after NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured images of the probe on the red planet's surface that it has been confirmed to have been located.
The European Space Agency was unsuccessful in raising contact with the spacecraft during the estimated time of arrival of the Beagle 2 Mars Lander on Mars. After several efforts were made in trying to re-establish contact with the landing craft, the ESA declared the mission lost in February 2004.
According to NASA, the images were captured by the Orbiter's HiRISE camera. They are described as a bright shape that look man-made rather than natural. Additional details report that the lander's solar panels were also deployed. Unfortunately, as sophisticated as the HiRISE camera may be, the captured images are not sharp enough to deduce how many of the lander's four panels were unfolded. More images are going to be taken in order to confirm the current position and stance of the Beagle 2. The final panel of the Beagle 2 Mars Lander would have its radio antenna exposed, allowing the landing aircraft to make contact with the ESA and NASA.
Furthermore, the sequence of images, which possess a maximum image resolution of a billion pixels, also confirmed that the Beagle 2 Mars Lander descended properly, refuting earlier claims that it crash landed.
The experiences and footage learned from the Beagle 2 will reportedly be used accordingly by the ESA during the next Mars mission, which will be called ExoMars and will be launched next year.
