ExoMars - An ESA/NASA collaboration?

[Rick]

European Payload Selected for Exomars 2018 Surface Platform

Two European instruments and four European contributions on two Russian instruments have been selected for the Russian-led science platform that will land on Mars as part of the ESA–Roscosmos ExoMars 2018 mission.

The first of the two ExoMars mission is in final preparation for launch next March. It consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter, which will investigate the possible biological or geological origins of important trace gases in the martian atmosphere, and Schiaparelli, an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module.

Schiaparelli will test key landing technologies and provide atmospheric and environmental data important for ESA's contributions to subsequent missions to Mars.

The second ExoMars mission, planned for launch in May 2018, comprises a European-led rover that will be the first to combine driving across the martian surface with drilling two metres below the surface, and a stationary surface science platform.

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[Rick]

Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli Are Joined (ExoMars 2016)

The Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli are now in their launch configuration. The ExoMars 2016 spacecraft will remain united until 16 October, when the entry, descent and landing demonstrator module will separate from the orbiter to descend to the surface of Mars.

The mating of the Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli began on Friday 12 February with the two spacecraft having been transferred into the fuelling area, where a mounting platform surrounding the orbiter facilitates the activities that need to be done about 4 m off the ground.

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[Rick]

ExoMars 2016 Spacecraft Encapsulated Within Launcher Fairing

There are a few photos of the spacecraft being attached to its rocket on the ESA site.  See them here.

[Rick]

ExoMars 2016 Launch

Launch progress updates from ESA here

[Rick]

Second Exomars Mission Moves to Next Launch Opportunity in 2020

The second ExoMars mission involves a Russian-led surface platform and a European-led rover, also to be launched on a Proton from Baikonur. Russian and European experts made their best efforts to meet the 2018 launch schedule for the mission, and in late 2015, a dedicated ESA-Roscosmos Tiger Team, also including Russian and European industries, initiated an analysis of all possible solutions to recover schedule delays and accommodate schedule contingencies.

The Tiger Team presented its final report during a meeting of the Joint ExoMars Steering Board (JESB) held in Moscow. Having assessed the possible ways to ensure successful mission implementation, the JESB concluded that, taking into account the delays in European and Russian industrial activities and deliveries of the scientific payload, a launch in 2020 would be the best solution.

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Ho hum...

[Rick]

Fears grow for European Schiaparelli Mars lander

There is growing pessimism that a European probe which attempted to land on Mars on Wednesday has been lost.

Tracking of the Schiaparelli robot's radio signals was dropped less than a minute before it was expected to touch down on the Red Planet's surface.

Satellites at Mars have tried to shed light on the probe's status without success.

One American satellite even called out to Schiaparelli to try to get it to respond.

The fear will be that the robot has crashed and been destroyed. The European Space Agency, however, is a long way from formally calling that outcome.

Its engineers will be running through "fault trees" attempting to figure out why communication was lost and what they can do next to retrieve the situation.

This approach could well last several days.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37707776

[JohnP]

Not again... listening to it on Radio4 tonight on way home - time for detection came & went... Fingers crossed it comes to life..

[Rick]

Schiaparelli Mars probe's parachute 'jettisoned too early'

Europe's Schiaparelli lander did not behave as expected as it headed down to the surface of Mars on Wednesday.

Telemetry data recovered from the probe during its descent indicates that its parachute was jettisoned too early.

The rockets it was supposed to use to bring itself to a standstill just above the ground also appeared to fire for too short a time.

The European Space Agency (Esa) has not yet conceded that the lander crashed but the mood is not positive.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37715202

[Rick]

Schiaparelli: Mars probe 'crash site identified'

The gouge in the ground likely made by Europe's Schiaparelli probe as it hit the surface of Mars on Wednesday has been imaged by an American satellite.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has identified a large dark patch in the robot's targeted landing zone consistent with a high-velocity impact.

Schiaparelli is widely thought to have crashed and been destroyed.

Data transmitted from the probe before it lost contact indicated that its descent systems did not work properly.

Its parachute was jettisoned too early and its retrorockets, designed to slow the robot to a hover just above the surface, fired only for a few seconds. They should have operated for half a minute.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37731671

[Rick]

Camera on Mars Orbiter Shows Signs of Latest Mars Lander

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has identified new markings on the surface of the Red Planet that are believed to be related to Europe's Schiaparelli test lander, which arrived at Mars on Oct. 19.

The new image shows a bright spot that may be Schiaparelli's parachute, and a larger dark spot interpreted as resulting from the impact of the lander itself following a much longer free fall than planned, after thrusters switched off prematurely.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6658

[Rick]

Further Clues to Fate of Mars Lander, Seen From Orbit

The most powerful telescope orbiting Mars is providing new details of the scene near the Martian equator where Europe's Schiaparelli test lander hit the surface last week.

An Oct. 25 observation using the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows three impact locations within about 0.9 mile (1.5 kilometers) of each other. An annotated view is available online at

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA21131

The scene shown by HiRISE includes three locations where hardware reached the ground. A dark, roughly circular feature is interpreted as where the lander itself struck. A pattern of rays extending from the circle suggests that a shallow crater was excavated by the impact, as expected given the premature engine shutdown. About 0.8 mile (1.4 kilometers) eastward, an object with several bright spots surrounded by darkened ground is likely the heat shield. About 0.6 mile (0.9 kilometer) south of the lander impact site, two features side-by-side are interpreted as the spacecraft's parachute and the back shell to which the parachute was attached. Additional images to be taken from different angles are planned and will aid interpretation of these early results.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6663

[Rick]

Schiaparelli Landing Investigation Makes Progress

Good progress has been made in investigating the ExoMars Schiaparelli anomaly of 19 October. A large volume of data recovered from the Mars lander shows that the atmospheric entry and associated braking occurred exactly as expected.

The parachute deployed normally at an altitude of 12 km and a speed of 1730 km/h. The vehicle's heatshield, having served its purpose, was released at an altitude of 7.8 km.

As Schiaparelli descended under its parachute, its radar Doppler altimeter functioned correctly and the measurements were included in the guidance, navigation and control system. However, saturation – maximum measurement – of the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) had occurred shortly after the parachute deployment. The IMU measures the rotation rates of the vehicle. Its output was generally as predicted except for this event, which persisted for about one second – longer than would be expected.

When merged into the navigation system, the erroneous information generated an estimated altitude that was negative – that is, below ground level. This in turn successively triggered a premature release of the parachute and the backshell, a brief firing of the braking thrusters and finally activation of the on-ground systems as if Schiaparelli had already landed. In reality, the vehicle was still at an altitude of around 3.7 km.

This behaviour has been clearly reproduced in computer simulations of the control system's response to the erroneous information.

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