Schiaparelli ’s recentcrash - landinghighlighted , once again , how difficult it is to safely set ashore on Mars . unluckily , the European Space Agency ( ESA ) has n’t make a good caterpillar track record of touching ground on the Red Planet .

In 2003 , ESA sent the spacecraft Mars Express to our terrestrial neighbour , and attached to it was a British lander holler Beagle 2 . Similar to Schiaparelli , which came attached to the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter , Beagle 2 was deployed and it was anticipate to land , spread its solar panel , and send a message on December 25 , 2003 . The message never come , and for 11 years the portion of the missionary station remained unidentified .

The probe wasfound againin 2014 by NASA ’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ( MRO ) , thanks to its unbelievable high - resolution camera HiRISE . And now   scientists from the University of Leicester and De Montfort University   have work out what go wrong with the lander .

blank scientists and digital designer created a 3D model of Beagle 2 , and simulated how the light of the Sun would bounce off the lander in various scenarios . They then compared the feign images withactual imagesfrom HiRISE and discovered that at least three , if not all four , solar panels were deployed .

The team believes that Beagle 2 landed right and then something went wrong before it could get in touch with Earth . Possibly one of the solar instrument panel unfolded in the wrong way , break or blocking the lander ’s antenna .

“ In reality , we may of course never bonk exactly what cause its failure to pass after what has been confirmed as a successful landing , which was a fantastic accomplishment by the Beagle 2 squad , " Professor Mark Sims , former Beagle 2 Mission Manager from the University of Leicester , state in astatement .

" The employment shows frustratingly that Beagle 2 came so close to work as intended on Mars . ”

The researchers   are planning to publish their findings soon , and you may see an spiritedness of what find at De Montfort University’sBeagle 2 internet site .