Esa is a member of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), a forum for the worldwide coordination of activities related to the issues of man-made and natural debris in space.

BBC: Video tracks stricken Mars probe

The other teams working through the IADC will all be using slightly different assumptions in their models and, as a consequence, will all arrive at slightly different timings for the period of impact.

BBC: Video tracks stricken Mars probe

"It is fair to say this is an optimistic look forward, and the situation will be worse than what we presented in the study, " the UK Space Agency delegate to the IADC told BBC News.

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