SPACE: ExoMars Spacecraft Prepares for Landing on the Red Planet October 163:14
The joint European-Russian ExoMars mission entered its final stages on Sunday, October 16, as a lander module separated from its mothership to begin its descent to the surface of the red planet. The European Space Agency expects the Schiaparelli lander will touch down on October 19 in the Meridiani Planum area of Mars. The lander?s parent spacecraft, Trace Gas Orbiter, will analyze gas in Mars? atmosphere after entering the planet?s orbit. This animation illustrates the final stage of the ExoMars mission. Credit: YouTube/ESA
ExoMars landing: European Space Agency’s experimental Schiaparelli probe enters orbit around Mars
THE European Space Agency’s experimental Schiaparelli probe has entered the atmosphere of Mars, with scientists awaiting confirmation that the craft touched down safely.
Its mother ship, which will analyse the atmosphere, went into orbit around the red planet.
Schiaparelli was released from the mother ship, the Trace Gas Orbiter, on Sunday.
Scientists said the gentle approach would turn into a six-minute hell ride when the probe plunged into the hot, dusty Martian atmosphere and hurtled toward the surface at 21,000 kilometres an hour.
When you catch signals from a spacecraft at an alien planet, there's a lot of happy activity! #ExoMars pic.twitter.com/COy1NDlNGK
— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) October 19, 2016
If all went to plan, Schiaparelli would deploy a parachute and then thrusters to slow down to 10km/h before hitting the surface.
Don McCoy, the manager of the ExoMars project of which the two craft are part, said some data had been received from the lander confirming its entry and the deployment of its parachute. More information was expected later on Wednesday.
“We can’t conclude the real status of (Schiaparelli) at the moment but indeed it did enter the atmosphere,” McCoy said at mission control in Darmstadt, Germany.
Next opportunity to hear from @ESA_EDM will be the relay pass with @NASAJPL's MRO spacecraft - should come in the next hour or two #ExoMars
— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) October 19, 2016
Landing a spacecraft on Mars is notoriously difficult and several past missions have failed, including the European Space Agency’s previous attempt in 2003 with the rover Beagle 2.
It made it to Mars but its solar panels didn’t unfold properly, preventing it from communicating.
While Schiaparelli has some scientific instruments on board, its main purpose is to rehearse the landing and test technology for a European rover mission to Mars in 2020.
NASA has successfully placed several robotic vehicles on the planet, including the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers.
Schiaparelli left for Mars in March aboard a Russian rocket together with the Trace Gas Orbiter.
The orbiter, which also has NASA-made instruments on board, will analyse methane and other gases in the atmosphere. Methane is created by biological or geological activity and breaks down within a few hundred years once it reaches the atmosphere, suggesting there is biological or geological activity on Mars now or in the recent past.
The prospect of finding even microscopic organisms on Mars has excited scientists for some time, but so far none has been discovered.
The ExoMars program, which comprises the current and 2020 mission, is ESA’s first interplanetary mission jointly undertaken with the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Schiaparelli’s descent to Mars in real time
Originally published as Anxious wait for Mars probe touchdown