What Went Wrong with the Schiaparelli Mars landing

The failure of the Schiaparelli landing

The Schiaparelli probe tragically failed to land on Mars due to its parachute malfunctioning, resulting in a crash at high speed. Despite this setback for the European Space Agency, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter remains successful, set to study methane in the Martian atmosphere, making the overall mission worthwhile.

Schiaparelli’s landing on Mars

The Schiaparelli spacecraft on Mars

The Schiaparelli Spacecraft tragically failed to land on Mars, crashing at 300 km/h. Launched on March 14, 2016, with the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, it aimed to study Martian surface conditions. It only planned to be operational for a week because it lacked solar panels, relying solely on a non-rechargeable battery.

ExoMars TGO: Tracking Methane in the Martian Atmosphere

The ExoMars TGO spacecraft in orbit around Mars

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, launched in 2016, aimed to study methane on Mars, a gas that might indicate geological or biological activity. Initially suspected to exist in trace amounts, recent findings revealed no detectable methane, leading to questions about previous measurements and highlighting mysteries around Mars' atmospheric composition.

Breaking news!

News is justย reaching usย of the most amazing astronomical discovery which I am ever likely to experience in my lifetime,ย one which I never thought I would see.ย  As regular followers of this blog will know, the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute has been searching for evidence of life in the universe by looking for some… Continue reading Breaking news!

A Christmas gift from The Science Geek

  Christmas is almost upon us. Give yourself an early Christmas present, without it costing you a penny, by downloading my e-books for free during the first five days of December! "Is Anyone Out There?"ย is aboutย the likelihood of there being extraterrestrial intelligent life. ย Itย is based on a number of posts fromย my blog.ย  For readers based… Continue reading A Christmas gift from The Science Geek