An unmanned spacecraft named ExoMars 2016 was successfully launched jointly Europe & Russia to search for biosignatures on Mars in past and present. The spacecraft was launched on a Proton-M rocket operated by the Russia’s Roscosmos from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. ExoMars 2016 is the 1st of a 2-phase of ExoMars (Exobiology on Mars) program.
About ExoMars program:
ExoMars program is an astrobiology mission of European Space Agency (ESA) & Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos).
Primary Goal: To address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars. The program comprises 2 missions: ExoMars 2016 & ExoMars 2018.
ExoMars 2016:
It consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli, an entry, descent or landing demonstrator module.
Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO): Its sole purpose is to search (trace) evidence of methane (CH4) and other atmospheric gases that could be signatures of active biological and geological processes on Mars. TGO has Four suites of science instruments. They are ACS (Atmospheric Chemistry Suite), FREND (Fine Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector), CaSSIS (Color & Stereo Surface Imaging System) and NOMAD (Nadir or Occultation for MArs Discovery). Schiaparelli: It will obtain measurements of electric fields on the Mar’s surface combined with measurements of the concentration of atmospheric dust. For the 1st time it will provide new insights into the role of electric forces on dust lifting, the trigger for dust storms on the Martian surface.
ExoMars 2018: It is planned to be launched in 2018. It comprises a unmanned rover & surface science platform. The rover that will carry a drill and a suite of instruments dedicated for the exobiology & geochemistry research. At present there are 2 rovers functional on the Mars viz. Curiosity and Opportunity which were sent by the NASA, the federal space agency of United States (US).
ExoMars 2016 spacecraft successfully launched by the Europe & Russia
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