BERLIN (AP) — The European Space Agency says its Beagle-2 lander, which had been lost on Mars since 2003, has been found.
ESA said in a statement Friday that new photos taken by the high-resolution camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show the lander partially deployed on the surface of the Red Planet.
Beagle-2 has not been heard of since it separated from its mother ship, but ESA says the images prove the entry, descent and landing sequence did work and that it successfully landed on Mars on Christmas Day in 2003.
The British-built Beagle-2 was launched on ESA’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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