What Went Wrong- Mars Lander Crash

So a couple weeks ago the Mars lander crashed down to the planet rather than landing. What went wrong? Read more to find out.





On October 19th, the European lander Schiaparelli impacted Mars. At the time, the cause of the crash was unknown. However, on November 23, the European Space Agency discovered the cause. It seemed that the lander thought it was closer than it really was, causing small, yet critical, premature actions.

What is supposed to happen is upon entering the atmosphere, the lander should use small engines to provide thrust to slow the descent. It is then to deploy a parachute and ride it to the ground.

What actually happened is exactly what was planned to occur, but it happened too early and briefly. The cause is presumed to be a computer glitch. Specifically, they think that the computer mixed up some data, causing it to behave as if it were about to land. The thrusters fired only briefly and the parachute opened prematurely, thus leading the engineers and scientists to this conclusion.

While the lander was not expected to last very long on the red planet, the sudden and catastrophic impact was a significant setback.

So what do you think of the error? If that lander was manned, what would happen? What would people do? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and follow us to stay up to date on the latest science and technology news.