Europe’s ExoMars orbiter is scheduled to launch in the early morning of March 14 to find traces of life on planet Mars.
When it gets to Mars in October, the Trace Gas Orbiter
will map the methane around Mars in hopes of finding its source. The
maps will help determine the landing site of a rover, coming in 2018,
that can investigate further.
The orbiter will also release a lander, named Schiaparelli,
after the Italian astronomer who drew maps of Mars in the late 1800s.
The lander will function for only a few days, studying
Mars’ global dust storm (sort of like the one in The Martian, but less
intense and more realistic).
The lander’s main function is to test out a new landing
system that’s designed for a future mission, to land a more functional
Mars rover in 2021.
That rover will carry a drill and a laboratory to search
for the signatures of life, both past and present. It’s slated to launch
in 2018.
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