Researchers with the European Space Agency say the experimental Schiaparelli probe crash-landed on Mars and may have exploded when it hit the Red Planet's surface Wednesday.

Photos from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show a black spot in the area where the spacecraft was meant to land.

The probe was meant to test technology for a more ambitious European Mars landing in 2020, and scientists say the data it sent back before going silent will prove useful for that mission.

ESA said Friday that, according to what its scientists have been able to piece together so far, Schiaparelli suffered problems during the last 50 seconds of its descent through the harsh Martian atmosphere.

The pictures taken by NASA suggest the probe's rocket fuel exploded on impact.

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Data received from Schiaparelli show that it entered the atmosphere as planned and used its parachute to successfully slow down in the harsh Martian atmosphere.

Experts said the probe may have descended too fast or too slowly and hoped that about 600 megabytes of data sent back to Earth would provide answers. The data are equivalent to about 400,000 pages of information for scientists to sift through.

"The experimental test has yielded a huge amount of data and clearly we're going to have to analyze this in the days and weeks to come, but it gives us a lot of confidence for the future," said David Parker, ESA's director of human spaceflight and robotic exploration.

"We need to understand what happened in the last few seconds before the planned landing and that is likely to take some time," he said.

Getting a spacecraft onto the surface of Mars is notoriously difficult and the planet is littered with the remains of failed attempts. Only NASA has repeatedly succeeded in landing several robotic vehicles on the planet, including the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers.

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The apparent failure to achieve what rocket scientists call a "soft landing" marred an otherwise successful start to the ExoMars mission, a joint venture between ESA and Russian space agency Roscosmos.

ESA chief Jan Woerner noted that Schiaparelli's mother ship was put into orbit around Mars as planned. The Trace Gas Orbiter will analyze the atmosphere in order to help determine whether there is life on Mars.

ESA's member states are expected to decide in the coming months whether to pay the estimated 300 million euros ($330 million) needed for the second part of the ExoMars mission in 2020.

Scientists haven't given up all hope that Schiaparelli might yet phone home. Don McCoy, the manager of the ExoMars project, said attempts will be made to reset the probe's transceiver but noted that its batteries are only expected to last for a few days.

Parker said his team was undaunted by the fate of Schiaparelli.

"Mars exploration is hard, and that's one of the reasons we do it," he said.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Mars Surface Photos

At a Glance

Scientists with the European Space Agency believe the Schiaparelli lander may have exploded.The probe successfully entered Mars' atmosphere but lost its signal before touching down.Researchers say data sent back by the probe will help them prepare for future missions.