Beagle 2

Beagle 2 was the British lander carried to Mars by ESA's Mars Express mission. Released on December 19, 2003, it was intended to land in Isidis Planitia and investigate rocks, soils, and the atmosphere, but no signal was received after the planned Christmas Day arrival. Its surface science campaign could not be carried out. Orbital images announced in January 2015 identified the lander within the expected landing area. The images appear to show an incomplete deployment of the solar panels, demonstrating that arrival on the surface and successful operational deployment were different outcomes. Full panel deployment was needed to expose the communications antenna; the imagery supports a deployment problem rather than the earlier assumption that the lander necessarily failed to reach the surface.