The European Space Agency has finally located the Beagle-2 Mars lander, which has been missing since 2003.
The craft, which rode to the Red Planet ESA's Mars Express mission, was spotted in images taken by a NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The craft was released from its mother craft Dec. 19 2003 ans was scheduled to land six days later, but the ESA lost contact and searchers Mars Express and NASA's Mars Odyssey mission were unsuccessful.
"We are very happy to learn that Beagle-2 touched down on Mars. The dedication of the various teams in studying high-resolution images in order to find the lander is inspiring," said Alvaro Giménez, ESA's Director of Science and Robotic Exploration.
The lander was last seen partially deployed on the surface of the plane, which proved the craft's descent and landing process was successful.
"Not knowing what happened to Beagle-2 remained a nagging worry. Understanding now that Beagle-2 made it all the way down to the surface is excellent news," said Rudolf Schmidt, ESA's Mars Express project manager at the time.
Finding the Beagle2 was comparable to finding a needle in a haystack because of its extremely small size, which is less than six feet across. To make the finding a camera team led by former member of the Mars Express operations team at ESA's Space Operations Centre Michael Croon analyzed a number of high-resolution images.
"The images show the lander in what appears to be a partially deployed configuration, with only one, two or at most three of the four solar panels open, and with the main parachute and what is thought to be the rear cover with its pilot/drogue parachute still attached close by," the ESA stated.
The size, shape, and color of the identified object appear to be consistent with Beagle-2 and its landing components, suggesting the missing craft has finally been located within its expected landing area of the impact basin Isidis Planitia.
