Europe's Schiaparelli spacecraft is on course to land on Mars. The 577 kg probe separated successfully from its mothership on yesterday. It is now on a direct path to intercept the top of the Red Planet's atmosphere on Wednesday. The module will then have just under six minutes to reduce its 21,000 kilometers per hour entry speed to zero in order to make a relatively soft flop down on to Mars' dusty surface. Schiaparelli is a technology demonstrator. It is intended to showcase the European Space Agency's ability to land on Earth's near neighbour.