UK’s Beagle Found on Mars

The fate of the Beagle 2 Mars Lander, a space project from the UK which has been believed missing since 2003, has finally been revealed. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) based HiRISE camera was able to capture an image what remains of the Beagle 2 on the surface of the red planet.

Michael Croon of Trier, Germany, a former member of the European Space Agency’s Mars Express operations team at the European Space Operations Centre looked for evidence of the Beagle in the images that MRO sent back. He found enough evidence for key entry and descent components on the surface of the planet. These were located within the expected landing area of Isidis Planitia which is an impact basin close to the equator of Mars.

This new evidence goes to show that the Beagle 2 did indeed manage to go through the phases of Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) and touched down on Mars on Christmas Day of 2003. Since due to some malfunction it did not send out the signal that usually accompanies the EDL sequence, the scientists were unable to establish the landing before this.

While this science project may not have worked out exactly the way the European scientists thought it would, at least now they know what fate it suffered thanks to the new images tat ave come forth.