Oh, come on!
It would seem that ESA, the European Space Agency, have once again failed to land a working rover on the surface of Mars. Confirmed by the agency this morning, they lost contact with the Schiaparelli probe just moments before it was due to land on the red planet's surface, making it the second (after Britain's Beagle 2) to be lost. Red faces all round.
Although ESA are unclear as to whether the 1200lb disc-shaped probe landed in one piece, they did manage to successfully get the orbiter, which released the probe, into orbit, to begin scanning the planet's surface. The mission, dubbed ExoMars, has been set up specifically to search for signs of life on Mars, with another rover planned for 2020.
Still, with the US sending lander after lander to Mars (you seen those selfies of Curiosity? Takes the piss), and other countries stepping up their space games, it is a tad frustrating that we Europeans have yet to get it right. Oh well, here's to 2020!