Tomorrow, two spacecraft will reach Mars after nearly seven months of traveling together through space — and they’ll both attempt to pull off two separate and incredible feats. One will put itself into orbit around the Red Planet, while the other will land on the surface, hopefully in one piece.
THE BIGGEST MOMENT SO FAR IN THE FIRST PHASE OF THE EXOMARS MISSION
It’s perhaps the biggest moment so far in the first phase of the ExoMars mission, a joint venture between the European Space Agency and the Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos. On Sunday, the two vehicles — the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Schiaparelli lander — separated from one another in preparation for Wednesday’s events.
The main goal of ExoMars is to figure out if there is, or ever was, life on Mars. The TGO will try to answer this question from orbit, by sniffing out the gases in Mars’ atmosphere. It’ll be looking for specific compounds like methane, which on Earth is often produced when biological matter breaks down. Its presence around Mars could indicate life on the planet’s surface, as well. Researchers have long debated whether or not the gas exists around the Red Planet, and the ExoMars mission hopes to finally quell that dispute.
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http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/18/13304632/exomars-mission-schiaparelli-lander-orbiter-mars-landing-plan-esa