Seven months after launch, ESA’s 2016 ExoMars mission arrived at Mars just last week. The mission consists of an orbiter and a module for demonstrating entry, descent and landing on the martian surface.
The orbiter is called the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). It will study Mars’ atmosphere and search for evidence of gases that could be important biologically, such as methane.
With TGO successfully in orbit as of last week, the European Space Agency has achieved an important stepping stone toward their future mission to explore Mars in 2020. The future mission will be a continuation of the ExoMars program.
The lander, Schiaparelli, unfortunately didn’t experience the same success as the orbiter. In the minutes between Schiaparelli entering the atmosphere before landing, ESA lost contact with it. The orbiter did manage to record data on Schiaparelli’s entry though, and that continues to be analyzed.
One of the spacecraft orbiting the red planet, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), took pictures of the planet’s surface in the area where Schiaparelli was expected to land. Below is a photo of the surface taken about five months ago followed by a photo taken last week – the second image contains two new markings. The light marking has been associated with the lander’s parachute which did deploy, and the dark spot is thought to be the impact site of the lander itself.
The thrusters that were designed to slow down the lander turned off too early. This caused the lander to hit the surface at a speed of more than 186 miles per hour.
The dark spot shown on the planet’s surface could be from material that was disturbed as the lander hit the ground at such a high speed. Alternatively, the lander could have exploded because its tanks were probably still full of propellant for the thrusters.
This week, higher-resolution images will be obtained by NASA’s MRO. Additionally, engineers are going through data received by TGO from Schiaparelli as it descended.
For TGO, the primary science mission will start after it attains a circular orbit around Mars. The orbiter will look for evidence of life below the surface of Mars. TGO will also be a relay telecommunications for the ExoMars 2020 and other ground assets.
Learn more about the future ESA Mars mission, 2020 at the ESA website.