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Space & Astronomy

Sharper images of Beagle 2 on Mars revealed

By T.K. Randall
April 26, 2016 · Comment icon 16 comments

A model of the Beagle 2 lander as it might appear on Mars today. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 Mike Peel
Researchers have succeeded in enhancing the images taken of the ill-fated probe's final resting place.
Developed by a team of British academics and headed up by the late Colin Pillinger, Beagle 2 was an ambitious, low-budget spacecraft designed to be carried to Mars as part of ESA's 2003 Mars Express mission where it would detach, descend and land on the planet's surface.

While the little probe managed to reach Mars without any problems, all contact with it was lost soon after deployment and for the next 12 years its fate would continue to remain a complete mystery.

It wasn't until scientists operating the HiRise camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted Beagle 2 on the Martian surface in 2015 that its whereabouts were finally determined.
Now researchers at University College, London have released new enhanced versions of these images that show the probe's final resting place on Mars in more detail than ever before.


While the resolution of the images are still low, it is now possible to make out the shape of the probe.

"Given the size of Beagle 2, even with super-resolution images you are not likely to see more than a series of blobs because it is so small," said Mark Sims of the University of Leicester.

"What it does show is that it is on the surface and it is at least partially deployed."

Source: The Guardian | Comments (16)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #7 Posted by Kiltedmusician 8 years ago
So we finally get an article showing an amorphous blob on the surface of a planet without the word "pareidolia" in it and it's the fuzziest one yet, but we somehow know that these clumps are a particular probe and that it has been damaged no less. I'm wondering if "parei" means double and "dolia" means standard.
Comment icon #8 Posted by BeastieRunner 8 years ago
There goes NASA with the sexually charged images again.
Comment icon #9 Posted by Aardvark-DK 8 years ago
Oh no, its THE BLOB, run...run and hide, in a Marsian Starbucks
Comment icon #10 Posted by paperdyer 8 years ago
Looks like J'onn J'onzz weight set to me.
Comment icon #11 Posted by ROGER 8 years ago
Hey , for years it was just a mystery on if it made it to Mars or not . Years ago some speculation was an in flight collision or craft propulsion system failure had occurred sending it spinning in to an unknown direction . At least we know it made it .
Comment icon #12 Posted by Mantis914 8 years ago
Who cares where it is as I'm sure it's nothing but a multimillion dollar paperweight now. Let's see some high resolution images of the Martian landscape complete with waving alien crabs...
Comment icon #13 Posted by psyche101 8 years ago
So we finally get an article showing an amorphous blob on the surface of a planet without the word "pareidolia" in it and it's the fuzziest one yet, but we somehow know that these clumps are a particular probe and that it has been damaged no less. I'm wondering if "parei" means double and "dolia" means standard. That fact that we have trajectories and a last known place of transmission makes all the difference here. We were looking for a "blob" in that location, we didn't find one and start guessing what planet it might have come from or what sort of alien it might be.
Comment icon #14 Posted by DieChecker 8 years ago
So is the wreckage site 3 meters across or 10 feet across... Might be a problem in converting the units there.... :w00t: :w00t: :w00t:
Comment icon #15 Posted by Derek Willis 8 years ago
So is the wreckage site 3 meters across or 10 feet across... Might be a problem in converting the units there.... :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: I thought it was the Mars Climate Orbiter that failed because of the mix up with units. Beagle 2 failed because it was made from pizza trays. Mind you, no expense was spared and Teflon-coated trays were used!
Comment icon #16 Posted by DieChecker 8 years ago
I thought it was the Mars Climate Orbiter that failed because of the mix up with units. Beagle 2 failed because it was made from pizza trays. Mind you, no expense was spared and Teflon-coated trays were used! Exactly so. Thanks for the correction/update.


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