[meteorite-list] European Mars Probe Arrives at Launch Site (ExoMars)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2015 16:30:50 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201512300030.tBU0Uoo9004857_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/12/27/european-mars-probe-arrives-at-launch-site/

European Mars probe arrives at launch site
by Stephen Clark
SpaceFlight Now
December 27, 2015

Three heavy-duty Antonov cargo planes flew components of Europe's ExoMars
orbiter and lander from Italy to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazkhastan
last week, setting up for a March 14 launch toward the red planet.

The Mars mission materials will be assembled, tested, fueled and attached
to a Proton rocket over the coming months on the first of two launches
for the ExoMars program, to be followed by the departure of a European-made
rover to the red planet in 2018.

Liftoff of the first ExoMars mission is set for March 14, at the opening
of a 12-day launch period. That launch will carry the Trace Gas Orbiter
instrumented with sensors to sniff out methane in the Martian atmosphere,
plus the Schiaparelli lander, an entry probe that will attempt to achieve
Europe's first successful landing on the red planet.

A convoy carrying the two Mars-bound components of the ExoMars 2016 mission,
plus a load of ground support equipment, left the Thales Alenia Space
factory in Cannes, France, on Dec. 17 en route to Turin, Italy, where
three Antonov An-124 cargo flights would take the hardware to Kazakhstan.

The three Antonov transport planes departed Turin-Casselle Airport on
Dec. 18, Dec. 20 and Dec. 22, carrying equipment to help prepare ExoMars
for launch, the Schiaparelli lander and the Trace Gas Orbiter, respectively.

The last shipment arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Dec. 23 after
a customs check in Moscow, and ground crews unloaded the spacecraft containers
into a clean room to start the launch campaign.

One of the first tasks at the launch site will be to set up a temporary
tent inside the satellite processing facility at Baikonur. The covering
will ensure the Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli are free of contaminants,
keeping with stringent "planetary protection" protocols aimed at safeguarding
Mars from Earth microbes.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome currently does not have a facility that meets
Western planetary protection requirements, according to Walter Cugno,
ExoMars program director at Thales Alenia Space, the mission's prime contractor.

The European Space Agency and Roscosmos - the Russian space agency - signed
a final agreement in 2013 to collaborate on the ExoMars program. Russia
took over much of the work originally assigned to NASA, such as the provision
of launchers and a rover descent package, before the U.S. space agency
withdrew from the missions due to budget constraints.

Then teams will initially prepare the two spacecraft for launch separately.

Ground crews planned to work nonstop over the holidays to keep the mission
on schedule for its March 14 launch date, and perhaps gain some breathing
room in the schedule in case something goes wrong closer to liftoff.

The Schiaparelli lander, covered in golden insulation and shaped like
a flying saucer, will receive propellants for its descent rockets beginning
around Jan. 29, according to Cugno.

With a full load of fuel, the lander will weigh about 600 kilograms, or
1,322 pounds. Schiaparelli is based on a simplified design, relying on
internal batteries and not recharging solar panels for electricity, and
cushioned by a "crushable" carbon-fiber structure instead of landing legs
or airbags.

The lander is stationary, carrying a weather station and sensors programmed
to collect data on the layers of the Martian atmosphere during its descent.
Engineers expect Schiaparelli to survive between two and four days - or
up to eight days if conditions are benign.

It is an introductory course to entry, descent and landing at Mars for
Europe, which would become the third entity after the United States and
Russia to achieve a successful touchdown on the red planet.

Workers will hoist the Schiaparelli lander on top of the ExoMars Trace
Gas Orbiter around Feb. 12. The duo will remain attached until Oct. 16,
when the lander will separate from the mothership three days before arriving
at Mars.

A three-day procedure to pump 2.3 metric tons (5,070 pounds) of propellants
into the Trace Gas Orbiter is scheduled for Feb. 21-24.

Combined operations between the spacecraft and launcher authorities will
begin Feb. 26. In the final weeks before liftoff, Russian teams connect
the ExoMars spacecraft to the Proton rocket's Breeze M upper stage, enclose
it within the launcher's nose shroud, then roll out the booster for fueling
with its mixture of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants.

Launch on March 14 is currently set for approximately 0930 GMT (5:30 a.m.
EST), according to Jorge Vago, ESA's ExoMars project scientist.

The ExoMars orbiter and lander will be the only Mars mission launching
in 2016 after NASA's announcement last week that the InSight probe will
remain on Earth until at least 2018.

The InSight lander's seismometer instrument built to search for quakes
on Mars ran into problems with its vacuum enclosure, forcing a delay in
the mission's launch at least until the next Mars launch opportunity in
May 2018, the same month Europe's ExoMars rover is scheduled for liftoff.

ExoMars' launch was originally set for Jan. 7, but an alert from a manufacturer
of pressure transducers on the Schiaparelli lander warned officials that
the components may be from a faulty batch. Engineers removed the transducers
from the propulsion system to eliminate the risk.
Received on Tue 29 Dec 2015 07:30:50 PM PST