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29 March 2024

We don't know if Mars lander 'survived'

Published
By AFP

Mission controllers were in the dark Thursday about the fate of Europe's tiny "Schiaparelli" craft, despatched to the surface of Mars after a seven-year, 496 million-kilometre (308 million-mile) journey from Earth.

"We are not in a position yet to determine the dynamic condition at which the lander touched the ground" on Wednesday, European Space Agency head of solar and planetary missions, Andrea Accomazzo, told a webcast press briefing at mission control in Darmstadt, Germany.

Further data analysis is required to "know whether it survived structurally or not," he said.