This mission, rise despite continuing tensions and the reciprocal sanctions adopted between the EU and Russia, allows Europeans to start the onslaught of Mars after a first success in 2003 and in Moscow to realize his dream explore the red planet one day.
The Proton rocket carrying a probe capable of detecting gas trace, called TGO (Trace Gas Orbiter) and a lander named test Schiaparelli, took off at 9:31 GMT, the scheduled , steppes of Kazakhstan.
ExoMars is currently in orbit around the earth and will ignite three times its thrusters to take the necessary speed to rush to Mars, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
A journey of seven months and an estimated 496 million kilometers now expects the mission, after which the lander will separate from the probe on October 16 to land on the red planet three days later .
After dropping the landing gear, the TGO probe will enter an elliptical orbit and slow down very gradually to be placed in a circular orbit at 400 km altitude.
“ big nose in space ” will then search for gas to trace in the atmosphere of the planet, including those based on carbon like methane, that interests scientists because on Earth, it is 90% organic. In addition, its lifetime is limited.
Its detection by TGO could therefore be a possible indication of the actual presence of a micro-organic life on Mars.
The probe will analyze “ if it is organic or if it is the result of a geological process ,” explained Jorge Vago, chief scientist of the ExoMars mission for the European Space Agency (ESA).
Schiaparelli module, which is named after an Italian astronomer of the nineteenth century, will, him, serves to teach scientists how to land on Mars. Weighing nearly 600 kilos, it is the size of a small car. Devoid of solar panels, he will live only two to four days.
– ‘Big responsibility’ –
Initially considered alongside the Americans, the ExoMars mission in 2016 was finally mounted in collaboration with Russia after NASA’s defection to budgetary reasons in 2011.
It should be followed by another Russian-European mission, ExoMars 2018, which will send a car search for traces of past life on Mars by exploring an area where the clays are found very old. Scheduled for 2018, it could however be delayed.
This is the second time that Europe participated in the assault on the Red Planet. In 2003, she successfully launched Mars Express, which has completed its scientific mission.
But the small British Beagle 2 lander dropped by Mars Express has never been heard to life. He was spotted, eleven years later, partially deployed on the surface of the planet.
heir to the Soviet Union sent the first man into space and the first robot on the moon, Russia for its part dream to explore Mars and reconnect with his past success despite economic crisis and bitter setbacks in recent years.
The Russian ambitions were cut short at first when, in 2011, the Phobos-Grunt probe, first Russian interplanetary exploration effort since the failure in November 1996 of the Mars 96, had finished his race in the Pacific ocean.
ExoMars allowed Russian scientists hope to resume at dawn of a partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA). “ This is a big responsibility, and also for Europe “, in February had welcomed the Director of the Space Research Institute in Moscow, Lev Zeleni.
The “ Roving Mars ” was also the subject of experiments by US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, back on Earth on March 2 after almost a year in orbit.
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