Beagle 2 probe 'spotted' on Mars

Beagle 2 probe 'spotted' on Mars
By Pallab Ghosh
BBC science correspondent



Three dark triangular features in the centre could be airbags
The scientist behind the British Beagle 2 mission to the Red Planet says the craft may have been found in pictures of the Martian surface.

Colin Pillinger says the images suggest the mission very nearly worked, but Beagle somehow failed to contact Earth.

He thinks the craft may have hit the ground too hard - as the atmosphere was thinner than usual because of dust storms in that region of Mars.

This may have damaged onboard instruments, preventing the call home.

The Beagle 2 lead scientist has been painstakingly studying images of the landing site in search of his spacecraft ever since it was lost on Christmas Day two years ago.

Now, he says, specially processed pictures from the camera on the US space agency's (Nasa) Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft show that it came down in a crater close to the planned landing site.

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hope this time they are right last time they claimed it they were wrong.

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hmmm.

Pictures a little blocky.
But considering that the size, and the basic geometry is right.
Plus they know the approximate location..
It's probably a bulls eye.

NOw ,if we could just go down there with a monkey wrench.

it is only strange that they didn't see it before because it is almost at its place of distanation. what was it did aliens get it and brought it back why didn't they notice it before :S

actaully havn't they been using a new technique with the Mars surveryor where it focus in on a point, and "rotates" to keep its orintation to the same point, thus getting a higher resolution image?