The Mars lander is destined to hit the surface of the red planet - testing the area for conditions ahead of a planned project to send a Mars rover in.
The rover, sent in by Europe, will search for signs of past and present life.
After a seven-month journey from Earth as part of the European-Russian ExoMars programme, the Schiaparelli lander was expected to separate from spacecraft Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) on Sunday, and start a three-day descent to the surface.
Schiaparelli represents only the second European attempt to land a craft on Mars, after a failed mission by the British landing craft Beagle 2 in 2003.
The primary goal of ExoMars is to find out whether life has ever existed on Mars. The current spacecraft carries an atmospheric probe to study trace gases such as methane, around the planet.
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