Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/University of Leicester The UK built Beagle 2 Mars Lander, thought lost on Mar...
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Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/University of Leicester
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The UK built Beagle 2 Mars Lander, thought lost on Mars since 2003, has been found partially deployed on the surface of the planet, ending the mystery of what happened to the mission more than a decade ago.
LOImages taken by the HiRISE camera onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and initially searched by Michael Croon of Trier, Germany, a former member of ESA’s Mars Express operations team at ESOC, have identified clear evidence for the lander and convincing evidence for key entry and descent components on the surface of Mars within the expected landing area of Isidis Planitia (an impact basin close to the equator).
This find shows that the Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) sequence for Beagle 2 worked and the lander did successfully touchdown on Mars on Christmas Day 2003.
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Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/University of Leicester
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The images, following analysis by members of the Beagle 2 team and NASA, show the Beagle 2 lander in what appears to be a partially deployed configuration, with what is thought to be the rear cover with its pilot/drogue chute (still attached) and main parachute close by. Due to the small size of Beagle 2 (less than 2m across for the deployed lander) it is right at the limit of detection of imaging systems (cameras) orbiting Mars.
Beagle 2 hitched a ride to Mars on ESA’s Mars Express mission. It was released from its mother craft on 19 December 2003 and was due to land six days later. But nothing was heard from the lander after its scheduled touchdown, and searches by Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Odyssey mission were fruitless.
The targets are within the expected landing area at a distance of ~5km from its centre. Several interpretations of the image of the lander have been identified, consistent with the lander’s size and shape. The imaging data is however consistent with only a partial deployment following landing. This would explain why no signal or data was received from the lander – as full deployment of all solar panels was needed to expose the RF antenna which would transmit data and receive commands from Earth.
Professor Colin Pillinger from the Open University who led the Beagle 2 project with inspirational enthusiasm died in May 2014. Others that provided major contributions to Beagle 2 were Professor George Fraser of the University of Leicester and Professor David Barnes of Aberystwyth University who also died in 2014.
Nevertheless, knowing that Beagle-2 did after all land successfully on Mars adds renewed impetus to the next phase of Europe’s exploration of the Red Planet, with the launches of ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator in 2016 and the ExoMars rover in 2018.
Beagle-2 was the UK’s first mission to another planet. The project was a partnership between the Open University, the University of Leicester and EADS Astrium UK (now Airbus Defence and Space). Other funding partners included ESA, the Office of Science and Technology of the Department of Trade and Industry, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), the Wellcome Trust, the National Space Centre and the Millennium Commission.
