Britain's missing spacecraft found on Mars

Britain's infamous "Beagle 2" spacecraft has been found on Mars -- 11 years after it went missing searching for extraterrestrial life.

Britain's infamous "Beagle 2" spacecraft, once dubbed "a heroic failure" by the nation's Astronomer Royal, has been found on Mars -- 11 years after it went missing searching for extraterrestrial life.

Beagle 2, part of the European Space Agency's Mars Express mission, had been due to land on Mars on Christmas Day 2003, but went missing on December 19, 2003. Until now, nothing had been heard from it since then.

But in an announcement made to a packed news conference at London's Royal Society scientific institution on Friday, space experts said the tiny Mars lander has been found on the surface of the red planet.

"Beagle 2 is no longer lost," said David Parker, chief executive of the UK Space Agency. He said scientists now had "good evidence" that the spacecraft successfully landed on Mars on the date it was due -- December 25, 2003 -- but had only partially deployed.

"This find shows that the entry, descent and landing sequence for Beagle 2 worked and the lander did successfully touch down on Mars on Christmas Day 2003," the UK space agency said in a statement.

Beagle 2 -- which measures less than 2 metres across -- was named after the ship Charles Darwin sailed when he formulated his theory of evolution. It was built by British scientists for about 50 million pounds ($85 million).

The plan was for it to report back from the Mars' surface using instruments designed to help search for signs of life, but nothing was heard after it was dropped off to make its landing.

"We were left with a mystery, a mystery that has continued to this day," Parker told Friday's news conference.

Martin Rees, Britain's Astronomer Royal, last year praised Beagle 2 and its eccentric creator Colin Pillinge, who had died at the age of 70.

"This was a failure, but a heroic failure," Rees said.

Experts say part of Beagle 2's legacy is its miniaturised technology, some of which is being provided for the ExoMars 2018 rover and being proposed for other future space missions.

Wawrinka retains Chennai Open title 2015

The top-4 in world tennis is a tough place to break into. If you do, it’s an even tougher place to stay at; more so when you are not Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray.

After finishing at No.4 last year, it was hence important for Stan Wawrinka to not start this season on the wrong foot. A backslide into the path of a bunch of emerging youngsters would hardly be an auspicious beginning, especially after a breakout 2014.

With his third Aircel Chennai Open title following a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Slovene Aljaz Bedene on Sunday, Wawrinka ensured that the year started on the best possible note.

“A perfect week for me,” was how he described it after the final. “Really happy with my level [of play]. It’s tough to win an ATP title. The last one I won was in April last year. So it feels great.”

For all that Wawrinka did last year, not much suggested that he was comfortable in the company of the elite.

There was a constant search for consistency but in the end it was futile.

Even better this year

But, based on the past week’s form in Chennai, one can safely say that he has hit a patch which is a notch above his 2014 form. Like last year, he romped home without conceding a set, but without any of the jitters and nerves.

One of the noteworthy things about Sunday’s final was the way Wawrinka played the big points.

In each of his five service games in the first set, Bedene had him at 30-30. But every time he came up with a big serve.

So high was his confidence that, unlike Bedene’s earlier opponents who relentlessly attacked his backhand, Wawrinka routinely hit to the Slovene’s forehand.

Precision

But such was the precision and work on the ball that it was almost always a yard away from Bedene’s strike zone.

Wawrinka needed just two breaks of serve, one in the sixth game of the first set and the other in the seventh game of the second, to canter to victory, even as Bedene did not earn a single break-point.

“He was really good,” said Bedene. “Unfortunately, I was a bit tired. I didn’t hit the ball clean either.”

“But I am satisfied with my performance over this week. I was really excited as it was my first final. I couldn’t sleep yesterday. But I think I’ll get used to it,” he said with a laugh.

When Wawrinka won in 2014, his narrative was one of novelty.

But, with time and performance grows expectations, and he will undoubtedly feel the pressure as the defending Australian Open champion.

How the Swiss handles it will be known over the next few weeks, but he has certainly got the start he desired.

Later, Leander Paes lost his first Chennai Open final in seven appearances in the title round, as he and Raven Klaasen went down 6-3, 7-6 (4) to Jonathan Marray and Yen-Hsun Lu.

The results:

Finals: Stan Wawrinka (Sui) bt Aljaz Bedene (Slo) 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles: Yen-Hsun Lu & Jonathan Marray (Gbr) bt Leander Paes (Ind) & Raven Klaasen (Rsa) 6-3, 7-6(4).