What Is The ExoMars Mission? Everything You Need To Know
A Russian rocket blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome Kazakhstan on Monday to launch Europe’s ExoMars mission searching for life on Mars.
A joint effort between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia’s Roscosmos, the mission comprises the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli landing module, both of which are designed to sniff out signs of life on the red planet.
The space modules will travel for seven months before reaching Mars in October.
Here’s everything you need to know…
What is ExoMars?
A two-stage mission to send unmanned spacecraft to Mars, one of which will carry a British-built rover.
What is the mission’s purpose?
To look for biochemical “fingerprints” of life, both on the planet’s surface and in its atmosphere. ExoMars 2016, launching on Monday, includes the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) which will sniff the atmosphere for tiny traces of gases, including methane, which on Earth is mostly generated by bacteria.
An artist’s impression of the Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli landing module separating from the rocket fairing (ESA–David Ducros)
Two years later ExoMars 2018 is due to carry a six-wheeled rover built in Stevenage to the Red Planet. The rover has a 6ft drill and is designed to find biosignatures of long-dead or still-living microbes.
If evidence of life is found, what will this mean?
Confirmation that life exists on Mars will profoundly alter the way we perceive our place in the universe. It would mean that extraterrestrial life, primitive organisms at least, is probably abundant among the stars. The chances of there being complex or even intelligent life “out there” would be greatly increased.
What are these “fingerprints” of life?
Methane can either be generated by geological processes, such as volcanic activity, or bacteria. If it finds methane, TGO will be able to show if it is likely to be biological. That depends on what sort of gases accompany it. If the mixture contains complex hydrocarbons such as ethane, it suggests life. If sulphur dioxide, it points to geology. The atomic ‘strain’, or isotope, of carbon in the methane is also important. Living things prefer the ‘light’ carbon isotope C12. Methane with a high fraction of C12 is also likely to be biological.
What the Trace Gas Orbiter will look like flying over Mars (ESA–D. Ducros)
The ExoMars 2018 rover will search for tell-tale mineral deposits left behind by micro-organisms, and look at the “chirality” - the right or left-handed configuration - of organic molecules. Amino acids in all the proteins in living things on Earth are “left handed” while the sugar that makes up the backbone of the DNA molecule is twisted to the right.
Mars is a dead planet. How could it support life?
Billions of years ago, Mars was not as we see it today. Scientists believe it had a thick atmosphere, and liquid surface water - even lakes or seas. The conditions may have been suitable for life, but it would not have had much of a chance to evolve.
The fourth stage separation of the rocket (ESA/ATG medialab)
Today Mars appears to be lifeless arid desert. Water simply evaporates from the surface, the atmosphere is 100 times thinner than it is on Earth, and because Mars lacks a magnetic field, it is baked by radiation that is deadly to living organisms. But it is just possible that hardy microbes, similar to some “extremophiles” found on Earth, might still be living underground.
If biological “fingerprints” are found, is that definite proof of extraterrestrial life?
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Such discoveries would mean that life probably has existed, or perhaps still exists, on Mars. But it will take a sample return mission, and possibly astronauts with boots on the ground, before the sceptics are completely satisfied.
What is Schiaparelli?
An entry, descent and landing module also being carried on the 2016 mission. Its main purpose is to test-run the technology to be used to land the rover on the later ExoMars mission.
The Russian rocket being lifted into place on the launchpad (ESA-Stephane Corvaja)
Landing a spacecraft on Mars is so difficult and hazardous scientists want to leave nothing to chance. Schiaparelli will use a heat shield, parachute and retro-rockets to brake during its descent and drop to the surface.
