Europe sent a tiny lander on a scorching, supersonic tumble to Mars Wednesday as part of an ambitious quest with Russia to find evidence of life on the Red Planet, past or present.
The Schiaparelli craft will end a seven-month, 496-million-kilometer (308 million-mile) trek from Earth with a dangerous dash through the Martian atmosphere, a critical trial-run for a larger and more expensive rover to follow.
“The ExoMars/TGO orbiter is in great shape and ready to swing into orbit,” the European Space Agency (ESA) said in a blog update Wednesday.
“Things could not be better,” said Richard Bessudo of Thales Alenia Space, who helped prepare the Exomars mission which could become Europe’s first successful Mars touchdown 13 years after its first, failed, attempt.
“Everything is nominal,” Bessudo told AFP hours ahead of the historic touchdown 175 million kilometers from Earth.
Schiaparelli has been free falling to the Martian surface since Sunday, when it separated from its Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mothership. The lander was asleep and programmed to wake up minutes before arriving at Mars’ atmosphere at 1442 GMT for a hair-raising six-minute descent.
Radio telescopes on Earth and satellites in space will monitor signals from the landing module throughout its entry, descent and landing, which is scheduled for 1448 GMT.
The TGO and Schiaparelli comprise phase one of the ExoMars mission, through which Europe and Russia are seeking to join the United States in putting a rover on the hostile Martian surface. Paddling pool-sized Schiaparelli’s main task is to test entry and landing technology for the planned rover — the second phase and high point of ExoMars.

Source: Arab News