NASA announced that images from their Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter may show the spacecraft that the Soviet Union used when they landed on the Red Planet in 1971.
And it was actually Russian citizen enthusiasts who follow the space agency and the Curiosity rover that recognized some similarities to the Soviet spacecraft in the photos taken from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experimement Camera, HiRISE.
Four features on the five-year-old image stood out to the space buffs and included the parachute, heat shield, terminal retrorocket and lander. And they may be right considering that a follow-up image from the orbiter depicts the same images.
The Mars 3 lander was the first spacecraft to survive a Mars landing on Dec. 2, 1971-at least long enough to send any information from the planet, according to NASA's statement on the image. The soft landing accomplished by the Mars 3 lander was the first of its kind, but transmissions failed only after 14.5 seconds for reasons that remain unknown.
TAKE A LOOK AT THE PHOTOS FROM THE ORBITER HERE
But as convincing as the images may seem, HiRISE Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen said that more evidence is needed before confirmation can be made that the pictures do indeed depict the Mars 3 lander.
"Together, this set of features and their layout on the ground provide a remarkable match to what is expected from the Mars 3 landing, but alternative explanations for the features cannot be ruled out," he said.
"Further analysis of the data and future images to better understand the three-dimensional shapes may help to confirm this interpretation."
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