At a Glance

Images from NASA show the crash site of the European Space Agency's Schiaparelli lander on Mars.The images cover three locations where parts of the lander made it to the ground.

New images from NASA show the crash site of the European Space Agency’s Schiaparelli lander on Mars, providing the first color view of the scene since the craft’s collision with the Red Planet on Oct. 19.

In the photos, the area where the lander module struck the ground shows , according to a release. These are interpreted as being materials thrown outward from the impact of the crash.

The images cover three locations where parts of the lander made it to the ground. They show the lander itself in one, the parachute and back shell of the spacecraft in another. The final image shows the heat shield.

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They also suggest that Schiaparelli left an almost 20-inch-deep, 8-foot-wide crater when it collided with Mars’ surface at a speed of more than 186 mph, according to the Associated Press.

ESA senior science advisor Mark McCaughrean said the data received from the spacecraft before the crash suggest the probe became confused in its final moments.

The images above show the crash site of the European Space Agency's Schiaparelli lander on Mars. The top image shows the lander itself, the bottom left shows the parachute and back shell of the spacecraft, and the bottom right shows the heat shield.

(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)

"Fundamentally there's a software issue here between the radar and the onboard computer system," said McCaughrean. "The radar was giving inconsistent info on where it was."

This caused the probe to assume that it was already on the surface. Data sent back to Earth show that the lander’s thrusters, which were meant to slow it down before its descent, only fired briefly.

in 2020, and scientists say the data it sent back before going silent will prove useful for that mission.

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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. Scientists have received data equivalent to about 400,000 pages of information to sift through.

A final report on the crash is likely to be completed next month, according to McCaughrean.

"Everybody would like to do it quickly, but you have to get it right," said the scientist.

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