ExoMars mission hears back from orbiter, indicating that probe landed on Mars

The European Space Agency appear to have determined that its Schiaparelli probe has landed on Mars. Scientists had initially worried that the hugely important robot – which is intended as a demonstration of the technology used for landing, as well as to test theories about the potential of life on Mars – was lost, because it didn't send back an initial message to say that it was safe. But scientists said that they had received a signal back from Mars Express, a craft currently orbiting around the red planet about the probe. But they didn't initially confirm that meant that the lander had arrived on the planet safely. From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater.