Software error may have doomed ESA Mars lander

Engineers from the European Space Agency (ESA) have been trying to determine why the lander Schiaparelli crashed into the surface of Mars on 19th October, which according to imaging from NASA caused the lander to explode on impact. Schiaparelli was intended to test the soft-landing systems which ESA plans to use for the ExoMars mission to deposit its robotic rover and science suite safely on the Mars surface in 2020 when the rover will drill into the surface to look for chemicals that could indicate the presence of past life.

The lander reached Mars with the Trace Gas Orbiter satellite, and began its descent according to plan. It was monitored by the Giant MetreWave Radio Telescope in India but shortly before it was due to touch ground, the telescope lost contact with Schiaparelli. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter returned images showing a large amount of disturbed ground at the landing site, leading the mission team to conclude the lander had been destroyed. However, it sent telemetry data back to the TGO throughout its descent, and flight engineers are now analysing this data to try to determine what went wrong.