Destination: The Red Planet. <br /><br /> Seven months after setting off, Europe’s ExoMars mission should make history later on Wednesday.<br /><br /> Having successfully separated from its Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mothership on Sunday, the space probe Schiaparelli is due to touch down, its descent slowed by a parachute.<br /><br /> But landing on Mars is notoriously difficult and there will be a few sweaty palms at the European Space Agency’s Mission Control in Darmstadt, Germany.<br /><br /> This is the first European bid to put a craft on Mars since a doomed attempt more than a decade ago. The British-led Beagle 2 craft was dropped off by Europe’s orbiter Mars Express in 2003 – but failed to make contact after its scheduled touchdown. At the time it was dubbed “a heroic failure”.<br /><br /> This time though things should be different.<br /><br /> The disc-shaped 577-kg lander is named after Giovanni Schiaparelli, the Italian astronomer who in 1877 began mapping the topography of Mars.<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> Schiaparelli is primarily a technology demonstrator, but has instruments for short surface science mission: https://t.co/j8rHfbyj88 #ExoMars pic.twitter.com/YirX6j2yRe— ESA_Schiaparelli (@ESA_EDM) 18 octobre 2016<br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> The TGO spacecraft on which the Schiaparelli lander travelled to Mars, carries an atmospheric probe to study trace gases such as methane around the planet.<br /><br /> Scientists believe that methane, a chemical that on Earth is strongly tied to life, could stem from micro-organisms that either became extinct millions of years ago and left gas frozen below the planet’s surface, or that some methane-producing organisms still survive.<br /><br /> The ExoMars programme, searching for signs of past and present life on Mars, is a collaboration with the Russian space agency. It is also a test run for landing a Mars rover four years from now, equipped with a drill for an in-depth look into whether anyone else is out there.<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> #Exomars: NASA has landed seven working craft on the red planet, and in 1971 Russia managed to make it there too https://t.co/ulzBpqzJwU— euronews knowledge (@euronewsknwldge) 19 octobre 2016<br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> But getting today’s landing right comes first, as our correspondent Claudio Rosmino explained.<br /><br /> “Six minutes of terror. That is how European Space Agency engineers describe the time it will take for Schiaparelli <br />to descend to the surface of the red planet. Six minutes of radio silence in which the probe will work in automatic mode.<br /><br /> “It will enter the atmosphere of Mars at a speed of 21,000 kilometres per hour and its thermal shield needs to resist a temperature of 1,700 degrees. After that a parachute will be launched and then the retro thrusters will reduce the speed of descent until touchdown.<br /><br /> “The landing zone is very interesting because there’s a chance that, billions of years ago, there was a lake or a sea.<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> Schiaparelli is targeting a region in Meridiani Planum today; this image from #Mars Express: https://t.co/9XF8AqAlNj #ExoMars pic.twitter.com/kCfaT9oNrq— ESA_Schiaparelli (@ESA_
