Analysis of pictures of the spacecraft has revealed that it did not, as first thought, crash-land.
The landing appears to have gone to plan and at least three of its four solar panels opened successfully.
Scientists believe the probe may even have worked for several months, even though it could not send data back to Earth.
The lander was designed to analyse the soil and atmosphere of Mars to look for signs of life, but it failed to make contact and it was feared it had crashed.
Now, more than a decade later, images from the HiRise camera on NASA's Reconnaissance Orbiter show that Beagle 2 did touch down on the red planet intact.
The new evidence vindicates the mission's leader, Professor Colin Pillinger, of the Open University, who faced criticism and ridicule when it failed. He died from a brain haemorrhage in 2014.
Scientists have used 3D modelling to simulate how sunlight would bounce off different arrangements of the lander's solar panels on the planet surface.
The technique involves simulating possible configurations of the lander and comparing how much sunlight would reflect off the lander with pictures taken from the Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Researchers at the University of Leicester and De Montfort University found that at least three of the panels appear to have unfurled after it touched down on Mars.
The researchers said: "This work further confirms that the entry, descent and landing sequence for Beagle 2 worked as expected and the lander did touch down on Mars on Christmas Day 2003.
"However, for an as yet unconfirmed and undetected reason, it failed to communicate following landing, although incomplete deployment for an unknown reason continues to be the likely primary cause, particularly in the case of three panel deployment where the RF antenna would be unable to transmit through the fourth un-deployed panel."
Nick Higgett, leader of the De Montfort University Simulation Team, said: "We are delighted to say that we have gone way beyond the original plan to reach this exciting conclusion that Beagle 2 did not crash, but landed and probably deployed most of its panels.
"Hopefully the results help to solve a long held mystery and will benefit any future missions to Mars."
The discovery comes about a month after another experimental probe, Schiaparelli, crashed on to the surface of Mars.
To date, only the American space agency NASA has succeeded in getting a handful of functioning probes and rovers on to the Martian surface.
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