Image analysts are confident that the features seen are those of Beagle2
The missing Mars robot Beagle2 has been found on the surface of the Red Planet, apparently intact.
High-resolution images taken from orbit have identified its landing location, and it looks to be in one piece.
The UK-led probe tried to make a soft touchdown on the dusty world on Christmas Day, 2003, using parachutes and airbags - but no radio contact was ever made with the probe.
Many scientists assumed it had been destroyed in a high-velocity impact.
The new pictures, acquired by Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, give the lie to that notion, and hint at what really happened to the European mission.
Beagle's design incorporated a series of deployable "petals", on which were mounted its solar panels.
From the images, it seems that this system did not unfurl fully.
"Without full deployment, there is no way we could have communicated with it as the radio frequency antenna was under the solar panels," explained Prof Mark Sims, Beagle's mission manager from Leicester University.
"The failure cause is pure speculation, but it could have been, and probably was, down to sheer bad luck - a heavy bounce perhaps distorting the structure as clearances on solar panel deployment weren't big; or a punctured and slowly leaking airbag not separating sufficiently from the lander, causing a hang-up in deployment," he told BBC News.
The discovery of Beagle comes less than a year after the death of the probe's principal investigator, Colin Pillinger. The Royal Society scientific institution announced an award in commemoration of Prof Pillinger on Friday.
The Open University scientist was the driving force behind the project, and although his mission never got to explore Mars, he is credited with sparking a huge enthusiasm among the public for space research.
His wife and fellow Beagle team-member, Dr Judith Pillinger, said: "Colin was always fond of a football analogy. No doubt he would have compared Beagle2 landing on Mars, but being unable to communicate, to having 'hit the crossbar' rather than missing the goal completely.
The image features are at the limits of what MRO can see
But the objects and separations conform to what is expected
Beagle is partially deployed, with two (max three) petals out
Backshell with the drogue chute and main chute are close by
Scenario in images confirms that EDL software did its job
Beagle's on-surface operations software began its tasks
Why deployment tasks were not completed is unknown
Component damage or airbag obstruction are possibilities
Incomplete deployment meant radio transmitter was blinded
Nothing can be done to bring the Beagle probe back to life
Full story :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30784886
