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ExoMars: European Spacecraft Prepares to Land on Mars

The first mission of ESA's ExoMars program, scheduled to arrive at Mars on October 19, 2016, consists of a Trace Gas Orbiter plus an entry, descent, and landing demonstrator module, known as Schiaparelli. The main objectives of this mission are to search for evidence of methane and other trace atmospheric gases that could be signatures of active biological or geological processes, and to test key technologies in preparation for ESA's contribution to subsequent missions to Mars. The Orbiter and Schiaparelli were launched together in March on a Proton rocket. Three days before reaching the atmosphere of Mars, Schiaparelli will be ejected from the Orbiter towards the Red Planet. Schiaparelli will then coast towards its destination, decelerate using aerobraking and a parachute, and then brake with the aid of a thruster system before landing on the surface of the planet.

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    Transcript

    00:00:02 [Music] exomars 2016 is several missions in one its Orbiter is a science and relay Mission while the Lander is a technology demonstrator to test key Technologies for future missions to Mars and 3 days before arriving at Mars on October the 19th the trace gas or or TGO will release its entry descent and Landing demonstrator

    00:00:36 scarelli we separate not too early such that the accuracy of Landing is good but also not too late such that we have time then to reorient the TGO and actually raise its altitude and not crash on M because it is on the Collision Course up to the moment of Separation so that it can brings uh to to the ground to the center hopefully of the landing ellipse The Landing

    00:01:05 ellipse is in an area close to the equator about 100 km long and 15 km wide it's in the planet's meridiani Plum region is relatively flat and smooth and is well studied NASA's opportunity Rover is on the ground and Isa Mars Express spacecraft has been overhead since 2003 Mars Express produced these images and will also act as one one of the data relay

    00:01:32 orbiters the scaparelli Lander will use a heat shield parachute and propulsion system to slow down its 6-minute descent to Mars testing the technology for a Rover in 2020 as well as studying the environment at the Landing site Europe will be on Mars but the mission is far from over on arrival the trace gas Orbiter will be captured by the planet's orbit to observe the

    00:01:57 Martian atmosphere using four scientific instruments the tjo will search for evidence of Gases such as methane that may be associated with geological processes or biological ones such as life and in order to enter its science orbit the spacecraft will need to gradually lower its orbit with exomars Isa is going to use

    00:02:19 for the first time uh method called Arrow breaking for a spacecraft in orbit around Mars to decrease the orbit by letting it fly through the atmosphere and using the atmospheric density to slow it down instead of using fuel for the engines tjo will also be used to relay Communications with Earth for current and future Martian missions for example

    00:02:42 the plan 2020 Rover the second phase of this joint European and Russian exomars mission 7 months after its launch from the bonor cosmodrome in Kazakhstan the challenge now is to release the scaparelli Lander for its descent to Mars and for the trace gas orbital to successfully enter an orbit around a planet whose history reveals so much about the origins of our own world

    00:03:10 [Music]