Europe's Schiaparelli Mars lander crashed last month after a sensor failure in its navigation system caused it to cast away its parachute and turn off braking thrusters more than 3.7 kilometres above the surface of the planet, a report released on Wednesday said. "When merged into the navigation system, the erroneous information generated an estimated altitude that was negative — that is, below ground level. The spacecraft activated its ground systems, even though it was still about 3.7 kilometres off the surface, the ESA said. It then crashed to the ground at a speed of 540 km/h, instead of gliding gently onto the surface of the planet, the report said. "We will have learned much from Schiaparelli," David Parker, who oversees space exploration programs for ESA, said in a statement.

Source: CBC News November 24, 2016 17:55 UTC