Astronomers have discovered a method for enhancing images of Mars’ surface that is the “equivalent of drone-eye vision” over the distant planet.

A research team from University College London’s (UCL) Mullard Space Science Laboratory also claimed it had near-definitive evidence that the European Space Agency’s (ESA) once-thought-doomed Beagle 2 probe was sitting intact on Mars.

In January 2015, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE (MRO) camera located Beagle 2 on the planet, but the latest photos provided “five times greater” proof the spacecraft landed intact, the UCL team claimed.

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For cameras on the MRO satellite the resolution limit is about 25cm, but UCL’s technique could identify items as small as around 5cm from the same telescope.

Beagle 2 departed for Mars on June 2, 2003 destined for a December 2003 arrival.

However no contact was received from Beagle 2 during the expected landing time and ESA declared the mission lost in February 2004.

The more conclusive images were created by the researchers from UCL, who improved the resolution of the MRO photos. 

The image of Beagle-2 Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/Yu Tao et al/University College London

Professor Jan-Peter Muller from the UCL study said: “We now have the equivalent of drone-eye vision anywhere on the surface of Mars where there are enough clear repeat pictures.

“It allows us to see objects in much sharper focus from orbit than ever before and the picture quality is comparable to that obtained from landers.

“As more pictures are collected, we will see increasing evidence of the kind we have only seen from the three successful rover missions to date.

“This will be a game-changer and the start of a new era in planetary exploration.”

When Professor Muller referred to other “landers” that had been to Mars, he meant NASA’s Pathfinder, Spirit/Opportunity and Curiosity missions.

“The technique could be used to search for other artefacts from past failed landings as well as identify safe landing locations for future rover missions,” UCL wrote on its website. “It will also allow scientists to explore vastly more terrain than is possible with a single rover.”

Top images are from MRO, the bottom are UCL’s SRR improvements. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/Yu Tao et al/University College London

The images confirmed the conclusions NASA made from its MRO camera, which suggested the solar panels on Beagle 2 failed to deploy. 

This meant it was not able to generate the energy needed to operate the communications systems to contact Earth.

Despite high hopes for the method described as Super-Resolution Restoration (SRR), it takes some time to get results.

“It takes three days on our fastest computers to do a small scene of 2000 by 1000 pixels,” Professor Muller told The Guardian. “We can’t yet do an entire scene.”

But the team were not put off by the time it took to enhance the image of Beagle 2.

They indicated they would embark on a project to improve the resolution of thousands of images taken by MRO, which space devotees hoped would produce more interesting finds.