Photos show European Mars probe crashed, may have exploded

BERLIN (AP) — Europe's experimental Mars probe hit the right spot — but at the wrong speed — and may have ended up in a fiery ball of rocket fuel when it struck the surface, scientists said Friday.

Pictures taken by a NASA satellite show a black spot in the area where the Schiaparelli lander was meant to touch down Wednesday, the European Space Agency said.

The images end two days of speculation following the probe's unexpected radio silence less than a minute before the planned landing.

The European Space Agency said the probe's mother ship was successfully placed into orbit Wednesday and will soon begin analyzing the Martian atmosphere in search for evidence of life.

With the loss of Schiaparelli, only two spacecraft are currently roaming the Martian surface — Curiosity and Opportunity, which landed in 2004.

ESA said 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.