This would actually be a best-case scenario for the European Space Agency, as a software glitch on the ExoMars Schiaparelli lander, which crashed on the surface of Mars October 19, would be easier to remedy than a hardware issue.
Andrea Accomazzo, the ESA’s head of solar and planetary missions told the journal Nature, "If we have a serious technological issue, then it’s different, then we have to re-evaluate carefully…But I don’t expect it to be the case."
The spacecraft consisted of a Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, and a Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), and was a joint venture between ESA and Russian space agency Roscosmos.
ExoMars’ chief objective was to confirm markers of active geological and biological processes on the red planet by seeking evidence of methane gases, which have been detected by past Mars missions, along with other atmospheric gases.
Nature noted that the mission was "a prelude to a planned 2020 mission, when researchers aim to land a much larger scientific station and rover on Mars, which will drill up to 2-metres down to look for signs of ancient life in the planet’s soil."
The TGO entered Mars orbit last week after a seventh-month trek and now makes it way around the planet every 4.2 days, but never sent back signals indicating that the descent module made a successful landing on the planet’s surface.
NASA released images Friday taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) that show what appeared to be scorch marks near the area where the craft was supposed to have touched down, implying that it may have exploded on impact.
Project scientist Jorge Vago suggested that ExoMars’ parachute and heat shields may have deployed prematurely, and the thrusters, which are supposed to engage for 30 seconds, shut after three seconds due to a software glitch.
He told Nature, "My guess is that at that point we were still too high…And the most likely scenario is that, from then, we just dropped to the surface."
An investigation is ongoing, and data gleaned over the near future will determine whether ExoMars is intact, but the ESA said all of the craft’s main goals had been achieved and the mission was a success, despite the unexpected impact.
"As it is, we have one part that works very well and one part that didn’t work as we expected,” said Vago. “The silver lining is that we think we have in hand the necessary information to fix the problem."
The ESA had a similar experience in 2003 when the British-led Beagle 2 mission disappeared attempting to make a Christmas Day landing on Mars
Sputnik
