Contact lost with Schiaparelli lander on its way to Mars’s surface

New York Times : The ExoMars mission suffered a setback yesterday after its Schiaparelli lander separated from the Trace Gas Orbiter and began its descent to Mars’s surface. Although the lander appears to have successfully deployed its parachute and heat shield, it stopped transmitting signals shortly before its scheduled landing. A board of inquiry now plans to sift through the data to find out what went wrong. Nevertheless, the European Space Agency, which collaborated with the Russian space agency Roscosmos on the mission, still considers the project to be a success because the orbiter is in place and already transmitting data. Despite the lander’s loss, the ExoMars mission should still be able to fulfill its primary goal of preparing for a more ambitious Mars mission in 2020.