* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

Blobrana · L

Mars probe returns first pictures

Europe's and Russia's new satellite at Mars has sent back its first images of the planet. The Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) arrived on 19 October, putting itself in a highly elliptical parking orbit.
This must be circularised over the coming year before the mission can begin full science operations.
But scientists have taken the opportunity of some close passes to the planet in recent days to check out the TGO's instrumentation.
Read more

Blobrana · L

Trace Gas Orbiter

Blobrana · L

RE: ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

Blobrana · L

Tracing the Big Picture of Mars' Atmosphere

One of the instruments on a 2016 mission to orbit Mars will provide daily maps of global, pole-to-pole, vertical distributions of the temperature, dust, water vapour and ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere.
The joint European-American mission, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, will seek faint gaseous clues about possible life on Mars. This instrument, called the ExoMars Climate Sounder, will supply crucial context with its daily profiling of the atmosphere's changing structure.
Read more

Blobrana · L

ESA and NASA have selected the scientific instruments for their first joint Mars mission. Scheduled for 2016, it will study the chemical makeup of the martian atmosphere, including methane. Discovered in 2003, methane could point to life on the Red Planet.
NASA and ESA have embarked on a joint programme of martian exploration, an unprecedented new alliance for future ventures to Mars. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is the first in a planned series of joint missions leading to the return of a sample from the surface of Mars. Scientists worldwide were invited to propose the spacecrafts instruments.
Read more

Blobrana · L

After all the talk, it's now for real. Having spent most of last year working out how they could explore Mars together, Nasa and Esa posted their first Announcement of Opportunity on Monday.
It's a call to scientists to propose instruments for a satellite to be sent to the Red Planet in 2016.
Europe will build it; the Americans will launch it. Researchers on both sides of the Atlantic will be involved in developing its sophisticated sensors.
Read more

Blobrana · L

ESA and NASA are inviting scientists from across the world to propose instruments for their joint Mars mission, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Scheduled for launch in 2016, the spacecraft will focus on understanding the rarest constituents of the martian atmosphere, including the mysterious methane that could signal life on Mars.
Establishing whether life ever existed, or is still active on Mars today, is one of the outstanding scientific quests of our time. Both missions in the ExoMars programme will address this important goal.
The first spacecraft is the Trace Gas Orbiter, which ESA will build and NASA will launch.
Read more