Long-Missing Beagle 2 Mars Lander Finally Found
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HIRISE/NASA/Leicester(PARIS) — More than a decade after it went missing, the Beagle 2 Mars Lander has finally been found, the European Space Agency announced Friday.
Turns out the mission was a success, after all.
The U.K.-led project was spotted in high-resolution images captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, seen partially deployed on the surface of the Red Planet.
Beagle 2 was released from its mother craft Dec. 19, 2003, and was supposed to land six days later, the ESA said. But the agency never heard from the lander after its planned touchdown, and searches for the Beagle 2 were unsuccessful.
“Not knowing what happened to Beagle-2 remained a nagging worry,” said Rudolf Schmidt, ESA’s Mars Express project manager at the time. “Understanding now that Beagle-2 made it all the way down to the surface is excellent news.”
The British-built Beagle-2 was launched on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter and was supposed to look for life.
After the project failed, two U.S. spacecraft landed on Mars and sent back many pictures and extensive scientific data.
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