The landercrammed with devices to look for signs of life on Marsnever radioed home after hitching a ride aboard the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter and dropping into the atmosphere on December 25, 2003.
The images appear to show that the lander’s solar panels didn’t fully open after landing, preventing the craft from getting power and exposing the antenna it would have used to communicate with controllers on Earth, according to the space agency.
–
While its namesake resulted in no such breakthroughs, David Parker, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said the discovery proves the Beagle 2 had its successes.
“The history of space exploration is marked by both success and failure,” he said. “This finding makes the case that Beagle 2 was more of a success than we previously knew and undoubtedly an important step in Europe’s continuing exploration of Mars.”
