Three days ago, on March 14, a rocket lifted off from a launch pad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, headed for Mars. That rocket carries the hopes and dreams of two space agencies, as well as a year of their work. The ExoMars mission has finally begun.
Announced way back in 2013, the ExoMars mission is a partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia's Roscosmos, to study the red planet. The Russian Proton-M, which launched Monday, will carry the ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) craft and Schiaparelli module over the next seven months. On October 16, about 900,000 km away from Mars, the two will separate, with the TGO settling into a steady circular orbit over the next year, and the Schiaparelli module touching down for surface observations.
The Shiaparelli segment will be a major component of future ESA Mars missions; it's the first time the space agency will be testing a landing module on Mars, and its success and subsequent readings will dictate where the next mission will touch down. In addition, the module will also be measuring electric fields on the surface, thought to be a trigger for the planet's infamous dust storms.
The TGO, on the other hand, will be looking for rare gases in the atmosphere, particularly methane, the presence of which signifies ongoing biological processes. And all of this, in addition to providing valuable data on the red planet, will be the basis for ESA's ExoMars 2018 mission, which will seek to setup a stationary science station on the planet's surface.
Still confused? No problem, this handy animation from the ESA details how the launch progressed, and what's going to happen now. Yes, it's set to battle music, but we can forgive the brilliant scientists at ESA and Roscosmos their few idiosyncrasies.
Announced way back in 2013, the ExoMars mission is a partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia's Roscosmos, to study the red planet. The Russian Proton-M, which launched Monday, will carry the ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) craft and Schiaparelli module over the next seven months. On October 16, about 900,000 km away from Mars, the two will separate, with the TGO settling into a steady circular orbit over the next year, and the Schiaparelli module touching down for surface observations.
The Shiaparelli segment will be a major component of future ESA Mars missions; it's the first time the space agency will be testing a landing module on Mars, and its success and subsequent readings will dictate where the next mission will touch down. In addition, the module will also be measuring electric fields on the surface, thought to be a trigger for the planet's infamous dust storms.
The TGO, on the other hand, will be looking for rare gases in the atmosphere, particularly methane, the presence of which signifies ongoing biological processes. And all of this, in addition to providing valuable data on the red planet, will be the basis for ESA's ExoMars 2018 mission, which will seek to setup a stationary science station on the planet's surface.
Still confused? No problem, this handy animation from the ESA details how the launch progressed, and what's going to happen now. Yes, it's set to battle music, but we can forgive the brilliant scientists at ESA and Roscosmos their few idiosyncrasies.