The European Space Agency's ExoMars lander is set to touch down on the surface of Mars on Wednesday, October 19.

The Schiaparelli lander was deployed from its mothership, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, on Sunday. The lander and the orbiter will conduct a series of maneuvers to align themselves with the orbit of Mars as the Schiaparelli begins its descent to the arid surface of the alien world.

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The lander is set to touch down on Mars at 10:48 a.m. EDT on Wednesday morning after travelling in deep space for half a billion kilometers. This is Europe's second attempt to launch a lander on the surface of Mars after the UK's Beagle 2 lander in 2003 got lost.

According to ExoMars mission scientists and planetologist, François Forget, there have been many failed attempts to land on Mars due to a long chain of actions that are supposed to be executed perfectly. He noted that there cannot be a single weak link.

Orbit insertion commands for the TGO were uploaded Tuesday and mission scientists announced that they are ready for execution.

The TGO and Schiaparelli were launched in March as part of the ExoMars phase one mission. The orbiter's main goal is to detect methane in Martian atmosphere, which is a potential indication of living organisms or microbial life on the Red Planet.

Schiaparelli's job is to test the entry and landing technology and maneuvers to pave way for a six wheeled rover that will arrive during the second phase of the mission in 2020. This rover will drill two meters into Martian crust to retrieve biosignatures of past and present Martian life.

The first maneuver is set to begin at 9:04 a.a. EDT. The TGO will carry out the most crucial command of initiating a 139-minute engine burn that will slow down the probe so it can be captured by Martian gravity and set into orbit.

The Schiaparelli lander is scheduled to enter into Martian atmosphere at 10:42 a.m. EDT and touch down six minutes later near the equatorial region of Mars, known as the Meridiani Planum.

However, there will be a 10-minute delay for this confirmation transmission to reach ground control. Schiaparelli will then send data about atmospheric temperature, density, humidity, and electrical charges which are crucial for a safe landing of the rover that will follow in 2020.