LONDON – The UK Space Agency said a British spacecraft missing since it was sent to Mars in search of
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alien life 12 years ago has been spotted on the Red Planet’s surface.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
The agency, on Friday in London, said that the spacecraft “Beagle 2 probe’’ presumed destroyed, was spotted and photographed by the U.S. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
It said the 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.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
It said the Beagle 2 touched down on Mars on Christmas Day 2003 after hitching a ride on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express mission.
Leicester University’s Mark Sims, who worked on the Beagle 2 project, said the event was a big disaster to him and many others.
“My Christmas day in 2003 alongside many others, who worked on Beagle 2, was ruined by the disappointment of not receiving data from the surface of Mars,’’ he said.
“To be frank, I had all but given up hope of ever knowing what happened to Beagle 2,’’ he added. (dpa/NAN)