That led the navigation system to think the lander was much lower than it was, causing its parachute and braking thrusters to be deployed prematurely. "The erroneous information generated an estimated altitude that was negative -- that is, below ground level," the ESA said in a statement. Since the 1960s, more than half of US, Russian and European attempts to operate craft on the Martian surface have failed. The next part of the mission is the start of the Trace Gas Orbiter's mission in 2018, sniffing Mars' atmosphere for gases potentially excreted by living organisms. "In some ways, we're lucky that this weakness in the navigation system was discovered on the test landing, before the second mission," ESA's Schiaparelli manager Thierry Blancquaert, told AFP.

Source: The Nation Bangkok November 24, 2016 03:17 UTC