Which ESA test lander crashed on Mars during the ExoMars 2016 mission?

The ESA test lander that crashed on Mars during the ExoMars 2016 mission was Schiaparelli EDM. Its full designation, Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module, describes its main purpose: testing technologies needed for future European Mars landings.

Schiaparelli launched with the Trace Gas Orbiter on 14 March 2016 and attempted to land at Meridiani Planum on 19 October. Atmospheric entry and parachute deployment initially proceeded broadly as planned, but a navigation problem caused the lander to release its parachute and backshell too early. Its retrorockets then fired for only a few seconds instead of braking the final descent.

The lander lost contact shortly before its expected touchdown and struck the surface at high speed. Later images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter identified the impact site and scattered descent hardware. An investigation traced the failure to saturation of an inertial measurement unit, which produced an incorrect altitude estimate.

Although Schiaparelli did not land safely, it returned valuable entry and descent telemetry. The Trace Gas Orbiter itself successfully entered orbit and continued the scientific and communications goals of ExoMars.