Story highlights ESA's Mars lander, Schiaparelli, crashed because of computer glitch

Probe miscalculated its altitude causing knock-on effect resulting in crash

(CNN) The Schiaparelli probe's crash landing on Mars last month was caused by a sensor malfunction, the European Space Agency has found.

A preliminary investigation discovered that the onboard computer tasked with measuring rotation of the lander mistakenly thought it was much closer to the planet's surface -- when in fact it was still approximately 3.7 km (2.29 miles) above Mars.

The ESA said in an update Wednesday that the glitch triggered a knock-on effect, resulting in the lander plummeting into the planet at 335 mph (540 kph).

"This in turn successively triggered a premature release of the parachute and the backshell, a brief firing of the braking thrusters and finally activation of the on-ground systems as if Schiaparelli had already landed," the ESA said in a statement.

European space officials have been able to replicate simulations of the event from recovered data and believe that up until that point, most of Schiaparelli's mission had transpired as expected.

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