14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, scientists announced that, having stared long and hard at a series of images obtained by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, they zoomed in on a bright spot on the ground that might just be the Beagle 2 lander that was lost on the Red Planet in 2003.
Since researchers aren't the kind of people who simply expect others to take their words for granted, they made sure that we too would get to have a look at these images that they believe show the Beagle 2 lander resting on the surface of Mars.
Not to beat about the bush, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter views of the Red Planet's Isidis Planitia impact crater near the equator that scientists say have the Beagle 2 lander featured in them are all carefully arranged in the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory video below.
In am no trained brainiac, but even to me the bright spot in these recently obtained and released space images of the Martian surface looks like it could be the long-lost spacecraft, solar panels and all. More so since no other such spots are anywhere in sight.
As already mentioned, Beagle 2 reached Mars on December 25, 2003. The very same day, researchers lost all contact with it. Hence, for quite a while, it was assumed that it was destroyed when attempting to land on this planet or while traveling through its atmosphere.
If the bizarre spot that was documented on the Red Planet with the help of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is indeed the long-lost spacecraft, this means that, rather than go out in a blaze of glory, Beagle 2 actually made a successful landing on this cosmic neighbor of ours.
