European Space Agency: Missing Beagle-2 Mars lander found after over 10 years
Iran Press TV
Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:10PM
The European Space Agency (ESA) says it has found the Beagle-2 Mars lander, which has been missing on the planet for more than ten years.
Mars probe Beagle-2, missing since 2003, was finally located on Mars, the ESA said Friday.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had sent photos showing that the Beagle-2 deployment had failed only in its final stage landing on the surface of Mars, the agency said.
David Parker, UK Space Agency chief executive, said, "These images are consistent with the Beagle-2 having successfully landed on Mars but then only partially deploying itself."
"This finding makes the case that Beagle-2 was more of a success than we previously knew and undoubtedly an important step in Europe's continuing exploration of Mars."
Professor Mark Sims of the University of Leicester, one of the contributors to the project, described Beagle-2 as an "innovative project… trying to look for evidence of life on Mars… way ahead of its time."
He said the new information shows the team has almost achieved its goal of getting data from the Red Planet.
The British-built Beagle-2 was launched on ESA's Mars Express orbiter and separated from its mother ship on December 19, 2003 to look for evidence of life on Mars.
The spacecraft was supposed to land six days later, but no communication has been established ever since.
After the failure in the project, two other spacecrafts managed to land on Mars and sent back many pictures and extensive scientific data.
MIS/HSN
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