ExoMars enters orbit of Mars, Schiaparelli prepares for landing

Launched on 14 March 2016, the spacecraft ExoMars is approaching Mars and goes on its orbit, and the module "Schiaparelli" preparing for landing on the planet.

October 14 was the last correction. 16 Oct at 17:42 Moscow time (14:42 GMT ) from 3.7 ton spacecraft will be separation module "Schiaparelli", weighing 577 lbs. the Speed at which the descent module will separate from the spacecraft, will be quite small — 0.3 m/s. after the orbit ExoMars spacecraft remained in orbit of Mars, October 17 at 5:42 Moscow time (02:42 GMT) will be made a small correction of trajectory, and then on 19 October and will include the engine, which will slow down the device and displays it on the Martian orbit. On the same day at 17:42 Moscow time (14:42 GMT) module "Schiaparelli" will enter the atmosphere and 6 minutes later landed on the surface of Mars. Provided the actual time of the events on Mars, to Earth the signal reaches with a delay of about 10 minutes.

Live broadcasts of events will be on this page and in Twitter from @esaoperations, @ESA_ExoMars, @ESA_TGO and @ESA_EDM and using the hashtag #ExoMars.

The landing site selected location near the Rover Opportunity (40 km from his place of landing), on the plateau of Meridian.





The plateau is the spacecraft Mars Express have detected high levels of methane gas. This area is on the Martian equator looks from orbit like a frozen sea with huge blocks of ice:



At this time, scientists are very interested in the question of the origin of the methane, which may indicate the presence of life beneath the surface of Mars.



Orbital module of ExoMars is to map locations with sources of methane, water vapor and other gases on the surface of Mars. And in 2020 to Mars will arrive the second spacecraft of the program ExoMars, a Rover that will explore one of those places. Then the first ExoMars will come down to an orbit altitude of about 400 km to work as a relay and research.



Module "Schiaparelli" is a demo — its main goal is to develop new planting technology that will be used for the descent of the Mars Rover in 2020. However, it also carries scientific equipment to study the atmosphere at the surface of Mars.

Visualization of the landing module presented in this video:

During landing, the navigation camera will do black and white pictures that will restore the trajectory and movement of the module.





Photos will be done with 1.5 interval, to a height of about 1.5 km, and the images covered an area of approximately 4.6 square km.

Then at an altitude of about 1.2 km, the parachute and back cover will be discarded, and the braking engines, which are disconnected in the height of 2 meters above the surface, and the force of impact from a fall from this height will be absorbed by special absorptive part of the module.

The first images of the module "Schiaparelli" will be shown at a press conference October 20 at 11 am Moscow time (08:00 GMT).

Source: geektimes.ru/post/281514/