European-led Mars lander starts descent to red planet

The ExoMars 2016 spacecraft composite, comprised of the Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli, is transfered to the launch vehicle adapter (LVA), with the conical shaped LVA seen in the foreground, at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, in this handout photo released by European Space Agency (ESA) on February 29, 2016. REUTERS/Silvia Bayon/ESA/Handout via Reuters

A Mars lander left its mothership on Sunday after a seven-month journey from Earth and headed toward the red planet's surface to test technologies for Europe's planned first Mars rover, which will search for signs of past and present life.

The disc-shaped 577-kilogramme (1,272 lb) Schiaparelli lander separated from the spacecraft Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) at 1442 GMT (10:42 a.m. EDT) as expected, starting a three-day descent to the surface.