The European Space Agency and Russian Roscosmos launched a new Mars mission this morning. The two space agencies are collaborating to search for life on Mars, and the ExoMars (Exobiology on Mars) probes that lifted off today are the first phase of a two-part launch.
There are two separate vehicles in this first phase — the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), seen above, and the Schiaparelli EDM Lander. (EDM stands for Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module). Schiaparelli is a proof-of-concept design with non-rechargeable batteries capable of providing power for four Martian days (a Martian day is known as a sol and is 39 minutes longer than our own solar day). Schiaparelli will deliberately land during Mars’ dust storm season, and in an area expected to experience them during the landing process. The goal is to measure the electric fields on the surface of Mars, as well as ambient humidity and the concentration of dust particles within the Martian atmosphere.
The Trace Gas Orbiter, as the name implies, will slip into Mars’ orbit and begin mapping the Mars atmosphere for traces of methane. NASA’s original tests showed no methane in the Martian atmosphere, but later data collected by Curiosity proved that methane is emitted on the Red Planet in quick bursts that dissipate after a short period of time.
Methane production on Mars doesn’t prove the existence of life on the Red Planet — as the image above shows, there are a number of ways that methane could be produced that are strictly inorganic. The Trace Gas Orbiter will hone in on where methane is being produced while simultaneously searching for a suitable landing site for the next phase of the project — the ExoMars rover.
The ExoMars rover will include a panoramic camera, multiple spectrometers, ground penetrating radar, a drill capable of boring up to two meters (6.6 feet) below the Martian surface, as well as a complete organic sample analysis package. It will include Russian-designed radioisotope heater units, though these are presumably used for keeping instruments warm, not main rover power. The Trace Gas Orbiter will act as a communications relay for both Schiaparelli and the ExoMars lander when it arrives. Currently the ExoMars lander is planned to launch in 2018, though delays could push that back to 2020.
Breaking the Martian curse
If the ExoMars mission succeeds, it will be a milestone for both Europe and its Russian partner. Mars has been anything but easy to explore, and NASA is the only organization that has enjoyed much success.
The first Soviet Martian probes, Mars 2 and 3, failed on descent and 20 seconds after landing respectively. Mars 6 failed on descent, as did the Phobos 1 and Phobos 2 probes, both launched in 1988, and the Mars 8 / Mars 96 probe that launched in 1996. The Japanese probe Nozomi failed to reach Mars. The ESA-launched Beagle 2 arrived at Mars but never confirmed a successful landing, though the Mars Express Orbiter that launched with the Beagle 2 lander remains fully functional as of this writing.
NASA, however, has scarcely been immune. The Mars Observer failed in-transit in 1992, and the Mars Climate Orbiter was lost in 1999 due to a unit conversion error between metric and English units. The Polar Lander failed in 1999, as did Deep Space 2. The graph above is courtesy of Wikipedia, and shows the total number of Mars launches and attempted landings. Our total success rate across all countries and launches is just 53%, though those figures have improved markedly since the turn of the century.
The ExoMars rover should have company on the Martian surface before too long. The Mars 2020 rover is currently in the planning stages at NASA and is meant for a 2020 launch. This rover would be based on Curiosity’s design, but with more advanced scientific payloads and may include a helicopter drone that can launch and fly independently of the rover itself. The drone, if used, will plot the best route through areas and help identify analysis targets.
If the Trace Gas Orbiter is able to identify the most likely source of methane emissions on Mars, we could have an answer to whether life ever existed on the planet within 5-6 years. Even finding dead microbes on the planet would be an incredible achievement — we’d finally know that life can and has existed outside of Earth’s environment.