No hope for lander

Europe’s experimental Mars probe hit the right spot, but at the wrong speed, and may have ended up disintegrating in a fiery ball of rocket fuel when it struck the planet’s surface, scientists say. Pictures taken by a Nasa satellite showed a black spot in the area where the Schiaparelli lander was meant to touch down on Thursday, the European Space Agency said yesterday. The images ended days of speculation following the probe’s unexpected radio silence less than a minute before the planned landing. It hit the ground at a speed estimated at greater than 300kmh, the agency said. ‘‘It is also possible that the lander exploded on impact.’’