On Wednesday, Europe’s Schiaparelli lander was supposed to make it’s easy descent onto the surface of Mars. However, something went wrong. Before it was set to land, the craft went silent. A few days later, NASA received images of the lander’s wreckage on the planet’s surface, where it apparently crashed and possibly exploded.
NASA’a Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter was able to snap up a few photos of the crash site where the Shiaparelli lander was supposed to land. What it showed was a dark patch measuring about 16 by 45 yards, which was likely what remained of the actual craft. More than a half a mile away, there was a bright shiny spot that could have been the craft’s parachute.
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The lander was supposed to use a combination of it’s nine rockets and a parachute to slowly descend to the surface. First the parachute would fall away, then the rockets were supposed to cut off about seven feet from the surface, allowing the craft to slowly free fall the last few feet to the ground.
From what scientists can say, it looks as though the rockets cut out far too soon, leaving the craft to free fall for much longer. This also meant that there was still a significant amount of fuel on the craft when it landed, leading the European Space Agency to believe that the craft may have exploded upon impact.
This isn’t the first craft to have met it’s untimely end on the surface of the red planet. According to USA Today, there have been roughly 50 spacecraft that have been sent to Mars to either land on the surface or sent to orbit only to meet a tragic end. There have only been seven landers that have made the journey safely, all created by NASA.
There was a bit of good news for the European Space Agency, however. The agency actually sent to spacecraft to Mars when they launched the lander. The other was a Trace Gas Orbiter, which successfully found its way into orbit around Mars.
Given the success record for sending spacecraft to Mars, it might be a while before people are able to land there safely.
[H/T USA Today]
