REAL LIFE NEWS: EXOMARS SHOULD BE ARRIVING TODAY
by Hazed
Citizens of Mars should turn their gaze to the sky today because a new spacecraft is about to arrive. The ExoMars should arrive at the red planet today – Sunday October 16 – and then on Wednesday the Schiaparelli lander will descend to the planet.
The mission is a joint endeavour between the European Space Agency and Roscosmos. It has two parts to it. The first is the lander which is described as a “landing demonstrator” – it will “will test a range of technologies to enable a controlled descent and landing on Mars in preparation for future missions, including a heatshield, a parachute, a propulsion system and a crushable structure.” In other words, it’s a very expensive dry run.
The lander contains a science package that can measure “wind speed, humidity, pressure and temperature at its landing site, as well … measurements of electric fields on the surface of Mars that may provide insight into how dust storms are triggered.” The plan is to run these for two to eight days. Not so long as other missions, but it’s intended as a proof of concept mission to pave the way for the ESA to send a rover to Mars in 2020.
The second part of the mission is the Trace Gas Orbiter on board ExoMars which will investigate the planet’s atmosphere, taking a detailed inventory. Scientists particularly want to know about the presence of methane, because it could indicate biological processes. It is also hoped that the orbiter will still be working when ExoMars2 and its rover show up.
Arrival and separation will take place around 17.20 UTC and the lander will touch down on the planet’s Meridiani Plain – if all goes well – at 14.48 UTC on Wednesday October 19.
Source: http://exploration.esa.int/mars/
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/ExoMars/Watch_ExoMars_arrival_and_landing
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/11/exomars_arrival/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37609985
