Fate of Mars lander unknown; signal lost

Mission controllers were in the dark on Thursday about the fate of a tiny European craft dispatched to Mars as a trial run for a rover to follow in a search for life on the red planet.

The lander, dubbed Schiaparelli, was scheduled to touch down about 11 pm on Wednesday Beijing time after a scorching, supersonic dash through Mars' thin atmosphere to conclude a 496 million km journey from Earth.

But the signal was lost before touchdown - evoking the ghost of Europe's first, failed, bid to land on Mars 13 years ago.