A tiny lander dispatched to Mars on a trial run has crashed and possibly exploded on the Red Planet. European Space Agency (ESA) mission control said, this while confirming Europe's second failed attempt to reach the alien surface.<br/><br/>It said, a NASA photograph of the intended landing site revealed the 600-kilogramme craft, offline for two days, had "reached the Martian surface a lot faster than intended.<br/><br/>The image contained a white spot, thought to be the doomed lander's parachute spread out on the alien surface, some 170 million kilometres from Earth.<br/>The ESA said, the lander's speed-breaking retro-rocket boosters appeared to have switched off prematurely.<br/><br/>Engineers and scientists are combing through the data Schiaparelli sent home before its untimely demise, to piece together exactly what happened.<br/><br/>Schiaparelli was on a test-run for a future rover meant to<br/>seek out evidence of life, past or present, on the Red Planet.