NASA Orbiter finds missing British space probe on Mars

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Friday, January 16, 2015
Beagle
In this image provided by NASA an annotated image shows a bright feature interpreted as the United Kingdom's Beagle 2 Lander. (AP Photo/NASA)
AP-AP

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A British space probe that vanished more than a decade ago has been discovered on Mars.

It was identified by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

When the image was enlarged, it became evident that the images were consistent with the sketches of the European Space Agency's Beagle 2 Mars Lander.

The Beagle 2 was supposed to land on Mars on Christmas day 2003, but crews lost contact with it and never knew if it made it.

Now they know.