Roving Mars: 40 years of space missions – South West

Y has he or has he been, the Life on Mars ? The question is fascinating and inspiring all Earthlings. After 40 years of space travel, it passionate than ever scientific , searching for answers as to puncture their the mysteries of the origin of life on the planet . blue

for scientists, life on Mars may probably exist in the subsurface of the planet because its surface is inhospitable. © Photo AFP

Born of collaboration between the Space Agency European (ESA) and the Russian agency Roscosmos, 2016 ExoMars will try to turn to discover, not little green men, but traces of biological activity on Mars. While also proving that Europeans can land on the red planet, after the Americans. This is the dual objective of long trip seven months that has just started the Proton rocket, launched on Monday with the success of Baikonur Baikonur in Kazakhstan.

On board: TGO probe (Trace Gas Orbiter) an orbiter around Mars to detect gas in traces, and Schiaparelli a small lander module. If all goes well, 12 October 2016, Schiaparelli will detach from the TGO probe to land on Mars three days later, to allow a controlled landing on the Red Planet, with a view to future missions.

After Viking, Sojourner and Phoenix , the three great pioneering missions and the most recent, still active and mostly American, the old continent wants to write with ExoMars an new European page in the history of the conquest of Mars.

tHE FIRST THREE AMERICAN MISSIONS

First views of the soil of Mars, sent by Viking 1. © Photo NASA

Viking. The two US modules, Viking 1 and 2, launched a month apart in 1975 by NASA, a Titan rocket equipped with a final stage Centaur arise July 20 and September 3, 1976 in the northern hemisphere of Mars. They send the first pictures taken from the Martian surface.

Sojourner. On 4 July 1997, Sojourner is the first mobile robot rolling on Mars to explore. Filed by the space probe Mars Pathfinder , it travels 100 meters. The space mission is also American.

The Phoenix rover. Artist view. Photo © NASA

Phoenix. again Launched by NASA and to analyze soil composition and study the atmosphere, Phoenix landed May 25, 2008 on Mars in the Vastitas Borealis region near the a north polar cap . the robot discovers the water ice , a major scientific discovery.

The Phoenix robot dug with its articulated arm a small trench 7.5 cm deep in the soil of Mars. © Photo NASA

MISSIONS iN PROGRESS oN aND AROUND MARCH

When they arrive in Mars orbit, TGO and Schiaparelli will not be alone. They will join two other rovers in activity and many orbiters, mostly Americans, and already working to decipher the mysteries of the red planet.

The rover Spirit landed January 4, 2004 in the Gusev crater three weeks before its twin, Opportunity (MER-B), which landed on January 25 in the equatorial region of Terra Meridiani, on the other side of Mars. Both had been sent to Mars by NASA in 2003 as part of the program Mars Exploration Rover,

The last communication from Spirit with the Earth goes back to March 22, 2010 . On 17 March 2009, the rover had traveled almost 7.7 km. Opportunity , always mobile, unlike his alter ego, has traveled more than 42 km . Both rovers have far exceeded their life initially planned.

The Curiosity robot is a “selfie” on Mars, Feb. 19, 2015. © Photo AFP / NASA

the robot Curiosity rover began its journey to Mars November 2011 , there are more than four years, as part of another American mission, Mars Science Laboratory. He landed on the planet August 2012.

First video
Robot Curiosity on Mars (Nasa) by Spi0n

“the presence of past or present microbial life”

It continues the climbing Mount Sharp in the middle of Gale crater in order to analyze the outcropping sedimentary layers. It has already brought a lot of information to scientists and made six great discoveries demonstrating the habitability of the planet : Key atoms such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur …

in December 2014, the rover has detected methane spikes in Gale crater, a gas that could mean “the presence a past or present microbial life. ” After providing a year earlier, the evidence of a former presence of liquid water with little salt and a neutral pH, in the footsteps of what could be a ancient freshwater lake.

• many orbiters circle the planet Mars

the orbiter or orbiters space probes are studying a planet or other celestial body by placing in orbit around it, unlike the landing, facing the surface for in situ study. Around Mars, they relay data rovers and also provide knowledge on the ‘atmosphere and surface of the red planet.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. © Photo NASA

Around March break include five orbiters. Three NASA: Mars Odyssey (2001), Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2005) and (Maven (2013), One is European Mars Express (2003) and the last Indian Mars Orbiter Mission or “Mangalyaan” (2013) (years of launch).

Mars Express, ESA video