Artist’s impression of the British Beagle 2 lander,its four solar panels properly deployed, collecting data on the Red Planet’s surface. Image: ESA/Denman productionsLanding on Mars is tough, or but the European Space Agency’s first attempt—the Beagle 2 probe—came maddeningly close to being a complete success. In fact,a new 3D modeling analysis shows that the lander’s failure to communicate with the soil was likely due to a single jammed solar panel.
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Source: gawker.com