Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Sketch of the ExoMars 2018 surface platform.
Credit: Roscosmos/Lavochkin/IKI

The European Space Agency is pressing forward on its 2018 mission to Mars, selecting payloads for the ExoMars surface platform.

That surface platform — which is the responsibility of Roscosmos and the Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI) — will remain stationary on the surface of Mars.

Once on Mars in 2019, the ExoMars rover will descend from the platform via a ramp. Then both the rover and platform will begin their scientific operations.

Science priorities

The main science priorities for the surface platform are context imaging of the landing site, long-term climate monitoring, and atmospheric investigations.

ESA’s ExoMars Rover
Credit: ESA

Expected to operate for at least one Earth year, the platform will enable imaging of the landing site, monitor the climate of Mars, investigate the atmosphere and analyze the radiation environment. It will also study the distribution of any subsurface water at the landing site, and perform geophysical investigations of the internal structure of Mars.

Landing site prospects

A Landing Site Selection Working Group has recommended the Oxia Planum region for further detailed evaluation for consideration as the primary landing site for the 2018 mission.

A further recommendation was made to also consider Oxia Planum as one of the two candidate landing sites for the backup launch opportunity in 2020, with a second to be selected from Aram Dorsum and Mawrth Vallis.

All three sites bear evidence of having been influenced by water in the past, and are likely representative of global processes operating in the Red Planet’s early history.

First up! ExoMars 2016

The first of the two ExoMars mission is in final preparation for launch next March atop a Russian Proton booster.

Artist’s impression depicting the separation of the ExoMars 2016 entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, named Schiaparelli, from the Trace Gas Orbiter, and heading for Mars.
Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

ExoMars 2016 consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter that will investigate the possible biological or geological origins of important trace gases in the Martian atmosphere.

Also onboard is Schiaparelli that will be deployed as an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module.

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