The image was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Russian space enthusiasts have pinpointed the resting place of what is believed to be the Soviet lander, Mars 3, which failed shortly after landing in 1971.

While following news about Mars and NASA's Curiosity rover, Russian citizen enthusiasts found four features in a five-year-old image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that resemble four pieces of hardware from the Soviet Mars 3 mission: the parachute, heat shield, terminal retrorocket and lander. During its flyby on February 10 1974, it returned 12 photographs from the 52mm "Vega" phototelevision camera, all through the red filter. The most recent landing took place on 26 November 2018 by the NASA probe InSight. Each consisted of an orbiter plus a lander. The predicted landing site was at latitude 45 degrees south, longitude 202 degree east, in Ptolemaeus Crater. The Mars 3 lander dropped into the broad crater Ptolemaeus at 45° S, 158° W, though its exact location has remained uncertain. The Mars 2 lander crashed but Mars 3 became the first successful soft landing on the Red Planet. The possible Mars 3 lander hardware was found by an Internet group of Russian citizen enthusiasts who follow news about Mars and NASA's Curiosity rover. In 1971, the former Soviet Union launched the Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions to Mars. During its flyby on February 10 1974, it returned 12 photographs from the 52mm "Vega" phototelevision camera, all through the red filter. Each consisted of an orbiter plus a lander.

The Mars 3 lander made the first ever soft landing on Mars on 2nd December 1971 using aerodynamic braking, parachutes and retrorockets. There have also been studies for a possible human mission to Mars, including a landing, but none have been attempted. It also returned 2 panoramas from the optical-mechanical cameras. After the Mars 2 lander crashed on the Martian surface, the Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to attain a soft landing on Mars, on December 2, 1971. Of multiple attempted Mars landings by robotic, unmanned spacecraft, nine have successful soft landed. A Mars landing is a landing of a spacecraft on the surface of Mars. This image (HiRISE catalog PSP_006154_1345) contains 1.8 billion pixels of data, so about 2,500 typical computer screens would be needed to view the entire image at full resolution. In 1971, the former Soviet Union launched the Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions to Mars. It failed 20 seconds after landing, having transmitted only While following news about Mars and NASA's Curiosity rover, Russian citizen enthusiasts found four features in a five-year-old image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that resemble four pieces of hardware from the Soviet Mars 3 mission: the parachute, heat shield, terminal retrorocket and lander. Promising candidates for the hardware from Mars 3 were found on Dec. 31, 2012. It also returned 2 panoramas from the optical-mechanical cameras. Possible Parachute From 1971 Soviet Mars Lander. The bright feature in this image might be the parachute from a 1971 Soviet Mars lander named Mars 3. HiRISE acquired a large image at this location in November 2007. In 1971, the former Soviet Union launched the Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions to Mars. The possible Mars 3 lander hardware was found by an Internet group of Russian citizen enthusiasts who follow news about Mars and NASA's Curiosity rover. The possible Mars 3 lander hardware was found by an Internet group of Russian citizen enthusiasts who follow news about Mars and NASA's Curiosity rover. This image (HiRISE catalog PSP_006154_1345) contains 1.8 billion pixels of data, so about 2,500 typical computer screens would be needed to view the entire image at full resolution. 90 seconds after landing, and after 20 seconds of picture transmission, the lander stopped working for unknown reasons. April 11, 2013 Mars 3 was a robotic space probe of the Soviet Mars program, launched May 28, 1971, nine days after its twin spacecraft Mars 2.