Spatial Europe wants to land on Mars. With ExoMars mission involving more than 130 European manufacturers, it will be to study the atmosphere of the red planet but also to test the critical technologies and input of controlled descent in an atmosphere 100 times less dense than that of Earth . What prepare a second mission with the aim of sending a 2018 Rover capable of analyzing samples to look for traces of life on the red planet.
The Proton rocket on its launch pad – Credits: ESA-Stephane Corvaja
After the robot Philae landing on the comet tchouri in 2014, the European space associated with its Russian counterpart Roscosmos, wants to land on Mars. Since no shooting Baikonur in Kazakhstan, the Russian Proton rocket will take off March 14 at 10:31 Paris time on board with two equipment designed by the European Space Europe: TGO called the orbiter that will orbit Mars and the down demonstration module Schiaparelli landing.
The spacecraft will cover a distance of nearly 500 million kilometers and arrive at its destination on 19 October. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the ExoMars mission will perhaps find out if life existed on Mars or if it even exists bacteriological stage.
500 million kilometers and six minutes of suspense
It’s a high-risk mission. Obviously, it was not possible to reproduce the Martian atmosphere and repeat this at equivalent terms. “Given the distance that separates us, it will take about 10 minutes for the information to reach us from Mars. But the descent will last less than 6 minutes. No intervention from Earth will be possible. All the input sequence in the atmosphere, descent and landing will therefore be automated manner says Vincenzo Giorgio, Thales Alenia Space, prime contractor for the program.
The orbiter TGO will have two missions. “He will look for trace gases in the Martian atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy” says Michel Viso, astrobiologist and responsible for the ExoMars mission for CNES.
It can thus distinguish trace concentrations of gases including methane, distinguishing concentrations of the order of a billionth. The orbiter will also serve as communication relays for transmitting information between the Earth and future equipment that will be sent to the Martian soil.
Supersonic Parachute
The second part of the mission will be far more risky. This is indeed land the Schiaparelli module of a mass of 600 Kg on the surface of the red planet in a completely controlled. If the Americans have managed seven times this type of operation while undergoing failures, it would be a European first.
The technological challenge is enormous because of the nature of the Martian atmosphere. “The Martian atmosphere is 100 times less dense than ours. It will therefore be able to reduce the speed of the module to prevent it landing abyss is” says Michel Viso , CNES.
Once dropped to 121 kilometers altitude, the module will start a de speed of 21,000 km / h and will arise with a speed of several meters per second! During the 6 minutes downhill, more devices will succeed in slowing the module. A heat shield made from an ablative material designed by Airbus Defence and Space will allow it to reduce speed while withstanding temperatures of about 1850 ° C.
At 11 kilometers altitude, supersonic parachute 12 meters in diameter will open fully in less than one second. It will reduce the speed of 1700 km / h to 250 km / h before detaching 1.2 Km ground. It is then that will activate new retro rockets designed from the Ariane engine technologies. They will stop the module to a height of 2 meters which will have almost zero speed.
Finally, a deformable structure will cushion the final impact with the ground. Then Schiaparelli may then proceed for four days in a scientific and meteorological data harvest (density, pressure, temperature …) as far as the electric field. A first Martian scientist! This limitation in the term is related to its energy independence due to its non-rechargeable batteries.
Success is far from guaranteed as recalled the incredible landing Philae on the comet tchouri in 2014. The little robot failed to deploy its grapples and bounced several times before stabilizing.
Drilling two meters deep
In fact, the real objective of ExoMars will materialize with the second part of the mission scheduled for 2018. All information from the 2016 raid will be used to best prepare. Schiaparelli will indeed be equipped with a multitude of sensors that measure all the parameters of the descent. In 2018, it will then be to land a real Rover. “The Rover will be able to drill the Martian soil about two meters deep, recover samples and analyze their chemical and biological properties” says Vincenzo Giorgio Thales Alenia Space.
After Philae, ExoMars will once again be an opportunity for Europe, including an industry consortium of over 130 companies in the space sector, to test its ability to meet the most complex space missions.
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