ESA Lander Crash Caused by Computer Glitch

The European Space Agency’s lander Schiaparelli crash landed on Mars after an unexplained saturation of its Inertial Measurement Unit sent bad data to the lander’s computer system forcing an early deployment of its parachute. The glitch that caused the bad data was only one second in duration. But that was enough to fool the lander’s system into thinking it had already landed, or was just about to land, when in fact it was still 3.7 km above the Martian surface. The resulting free-fall after the parachute was jettisoned was devastating to the lander.