[meteorite-list] ExoMars: ESA and Roscosmos Set For 2016 & 2018 Mars Missions

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:18:28 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201303150018.r2F0ISBX006664_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/ExoMars_ESA_and_Roscosmos_set_for_Mars_missions

ExoMars: ESA and Roscosmos set for Mars missions
European Space Agency
14 March 2013

ESA and the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, have signed a
formal agreement to work in partnership on the ExoMars programme
towards the launch of two missions in 2016 and 2018.

Establishing whether life ever existed on Mars is one of the
outstanding scientific questions of our time and the highest
scientific priority of the ExoMars programme.

The partners have agreed a balanced sharing of responsibilities
for the different mission elements. ESA will provide the Trace Gas
Orbiter (TGO) and the Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator
Module (EDM) in 2016, and the carrier and rover in 2018.

Roscosmos will be responsible for the 2018 descent module and
surface platform, and will provide launchers for both missions.
Both partners will supply scientific instruments and will
cooperate closely in the scientific exploitation of the missions.

ExoMars will also demonstrate core technologies under development
by European industry such as landing, roving, drilling and sample
preparation that are an essential part of paving the way for the
next big step in the robotic exploration of Mars: a sample-return
mission.

The 2016 mission has two major ESA elements: TGO and EDM. TGO will
search for evidence of methane and other atmospheric gases that
could be signatures of active biological or geological processes.
It will also serve as a data relay for the 2018 mission. EDM will
land on Mars to prove key technologies for the 2018 mission.

In 2018, the ExoMars rover, to be provided by ESA, will search the
planet's surface for signs of life, past and present. It will be
the first Mars rover able to drill to depths of 2 m, collecting
samples that have been shielded from the harsh conditions of the
surface, where radiation and oxidants can destroy organic materials.

The rover will be delivered by a Russian descent module that
includes a surface platform equipped with additional scientific
instruments.

Today, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and Head of
Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin met at ESA Headquarters in Paris to
sign an agreement that seals ExoMars as a partnership between the
two space agencies.

"This is a momentous occasion for the ExoMars programme that will
see industry and scientists from Europe and Russia working
together on these two exciting missions, which will develop new
technologies that will demonstrate the competitiveness of European
industry, be important for preparing a solid participation of ESA
in future international exploration missions and address the key
question of whether life ever arose on Mars," says Jean-Jacques
Dordain.

"It has been a long way, we have performed a large amount of work
together. The ExoMars programme is to become the second large
project after Soyuz in Kourou," says Vladimir Popovkin.

"It confirms again that projects of such tremendous scale have to
be implemented through international cooperation. The scientific
data that we are going to obtain during all the planned missions
are important for the worldwide community."

NASA will also deliver important contributions to ExoMars,
including the Electra UHF radio package for TGO, and Mars
Proximity Link telecom and engineering support to EDM.

Today's signature between ESA and Roscosmos provides the basis for
industry and scientific institutes to begin full cooperation on
the missions and to meet the challenging schedule, with the first
launch planned in January 2016.

Notes for Editors

The ExoMars Programme is funded by 14 ESA states (Austria,
Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK and Canada) of
which Italy is the largest contributor and the UK the second
largest. Member states also provide scientific instruments to
ExoMars. For the 2016 TGO, these include the infrared and
ultraviolet spectrometer package NOMAD (led by Belgium) and the
CaSSIS high-resolution colour stereo camera (led by Switzerland).
Italy will lead the DREAMS environmental station on EDM.

The 2018 Rover will comprise PanCam, a wide-angle and
high-resolution camera system (led by the UK); CLUPI, a close-up
imager (led by Switzerland); WISDOM, a ground-penetrating radar
(led by France); Ma_MISS, a miniaturised infrared spectrometer
integrated in the subsurface drill (led by Italy); MicrOmega, a
visible and infrared imaging spectrometer (led by France); RLS, a
Raman spectrometer (led by Spain), and MOMA, a novel organic
molecule detector (led by Germany, with substantial contributions
from the United States).

For further information, please contact:

Markus Bauer
ESA Science and Robotic Exploration Communication Officer
Tel: +31 71 565 6799
Mob: +31 61 594 3 954
Email: markus.bauer at esa.int

Rolf de Groot
Head of the Robotic Exploration Coordination Office
Tel: + 31 71 565 8106
Email: Rolf.de.Groot at esa.int
Received on Thu 14 Mar 2013 08:18:28 PM PDT