last Friday, the images obtained by the mission, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) confirmed the worst omens about the mysterious disappearance of Schiaparelli while landing on Mars. The probe, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Roscosmos Russian, crashed into the red planet at more than 300 kilometers per hour. The reasons of his failed landing were unknown to the researchers.

The first analysis point to a computer failure as the possible cause of the failed landing on Mars of the probe Schiaparelli

Andrea Accomazzo, ESA, explains to the journal Nature the scenario shuffled to the scientists points to a possible computer glitch. Errors in the software Schiaparelli or problems when analysing data from its sensors were unable to make the probe “believed” to be at a height much closer to the martian soil. Unfortunately, the module began to descend in free fall when it was located between 2 and 4 kilometers above the surface of Mars.

These explanations come after the first moments of confusion after failing in the amartizaje. In the first press conference, the ESA confirmed that the retrorockets for the probe to slow down during the descent did not work properly. These systems should have been turned on during something more than half a minute, but only were active between three and four seconds. The European Space Agency has been able to verify that both the maneuver of atmospheric entry as the operations during the early stages of the descent is carried out correctly. The problem were the final moments of the landing, and in particular, the last fifty seconds, in which the ESA lost contact with the module.

If it is confirmed that the failed landing of Schiaparelli was due to a problem in your software, there will be good news and bad news. On the one hand, the bad news is that the technology projected for the amartizaje of the robot ExoMars 2020 is the same as in the case of Schiaparelli, so researchers should focus on solving the technical difficulties faced in the past week. To do this, the scientists will try to replicate in virtual form all the stages of the descent into Mars in order to verify in a reliable way what errors there were.

The technology of the module is the same as THAT projected for the arrival of the robot ExoMars 2020

The good news is that, in the case of a computer problem, your solution will be more simple if it is of errors in the systems that had Schiaparelli to slow down during its descent. Determine what failed during the landing, which would have meant the first arrival of Europe and Russia in the martian soil, it will also be crucial to ensure the future of the mission ExoMars. The European Space Agency should get more funding in order to complete the scientific work of this project, with which he could unravel the mystery of methane, and to know whether or not there is life on the red planet.