Timeline of events surrounding the Beagle 2's disappearance

The Beagle 2 probe, which disappeared as it approached Mars in search of alien life, on the Red Planet's surface Credit: Space mission

New evidence suggests the missing British Beagle 2 spacecraft, reportedly built by Professor Colin Pillinger in his shed, did land successfully on Mars' surface when it attempted a historic Christmas Day landing on the planet in 2003, despite the fact it has been missing for nearly 12 years.

As news came today that the spacecraft has finally been spotted in images taken by NASA's Mars Orbiter, ITV News takes a look at the timeline of events surrounding Beagle 2's 'disappearance':

  • April 13, 2003 - Beagle 2 arrived at Kazakhstan's Baikonur spaceport ready to be deployed into space

  • May 19, 2003 - The official countdown to launch began, two weeks before scheduled blastoff

  • June 2, 2003 - At 6.45pm UK Time a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket launched the Mars Express into space with the Beagle 2 loaded onboard and ready to begin its mission

  • November 11, 2003 - Now successfully in space the Beagle 2's carrier ship is thrust on its final course to Mars with the use of rocket thrusters

  • December 19, 2003 - At 10.40am UK time scientists at the European Space Operation Centre confirm the Beagle 2 spacecraft has separated from it's mother ship and is en route to its Mars landing

  • December 24, 2003 - Beagle 2 glides through space as it completes the final leg of its journey to Mars

  • December 25, 2003 - At 6.20am UK times scientists wait in vain for news of Beagle 2's successful landing

  • December 25, 2003 - At 10pm a giant radio telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire scans Mars for two-and-a-half hours but still picks up no signal from the spacecraft

  • December 29, 2003 - Still no signal from the Beagle 2 and scientists reveal the spacecraft may have been swallowed up by a one-kilometre wide crater hundreds of metres deep

  • January 27, 2004 - Scientists attempted to "reboot" the probe using a command signal transmitted by the American Mars Odyssey orbiter, without any success

  • February 3, 2005 -An official report from the joint Commission of Inquiry says the probe should never have been given the go-ahead by the ESA because of funding issues

  • May 7, 2014 - Beagle 2's creator Professor Pillinger dies at the age of 70

  • January 16, 2015 - Nasa images of the what is believed to be the missing Beagle 2 on the surface of Mars are released

An artists impression issued by the European Space Agency in 2002 showing how they hoped the Beagle 2 landing craft would look once landed on Mars Credit: European Space Agency