Beagle 2 Found on Mars After 'Disappearing' for 12 Years
Scientists finally get closure.
The Beagle 2 Mars Lander, the United Kingdom’s landing spacecraft that went AWOL on Mars in 2003, has been located in images captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The spacecraft was deployed from the European Space Agency's Mars Express on December 19, 2003 and landed on the surface of Mars on Christmas Day. The ESA couldn’t raise contact with the spacecraft at the expected landing time or subsequent attempts at securing communication and announced the mission lost in February 2004.
“I am delighted that Beagle 2 has finally been found on Mars," said Mark Sims of the University of Leicester, former Beagle 2 mission manager and leader of the initial study phase, said in a prepared statement. "Every Christmas Day since 2003 I have wondered what happened to Beagle 2. My Christmas Day in 2003 alongside many others who worked on Beagle 2 was ruined by the disappointment of not receiving data from the surface of Mars. To be frank I had all but given up hope of ever knowing what happened to Beagle 2. The images show that we came so close to achieving the goal of science on Mars."
The orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera located the Beagle 2 within its expected landing area of Isidis Planitia, approximately 3 miles (5 kms) from its center. The three observations by the orbiter in December reveal that it survived touchdown long enough to partially deploy its solar arrays. Its rear cover with the pilot/drogue chute still attached and main parachute lay nearby. .
Michael Croon, former member of the European Space Agency's Mars Express operations team, had initially made the discovery analyzing the HiRISE images. Further ire-maging and analysis by the Beagle 2 team, the HiRISE team and NASA JPL confirmed the object as Beagle 2. "I can imagine the sense of closure that the Beagle 2 team must feel," said Richard Zurek, current project scientist Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and former project scientist for NASA's missing 1998 Mars Polar Lander. "MRO has helped find safe landing sites on Mars for the Curiosity and Phoenix missions and has searched for missing craft to learn what may have gone wrong. It's an extremely difficult task, as the craft are small and the search areas are vast. It takes the best camera we have in Mars orbit and work by dedicated individuals to be successful at this."
Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ.of Arizona/University of Leicester
Jenna Pitcher is a freelance journalist writing for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter.
