Video Kidibot

Tag: Schiaparelli

  • ESA Euronews: ExoMars at Mars

    ESA Euronews: ExoMars at Mars

    Scientists and engineers on the ExoMars project had their hearts in their mouths as the ExoMars mission reached the red planet, with the Schiaparelli probe going missing in action at the end of its descent just as the TGO mothership swept into a perfectly timed orbit.

    The rollercoaster ride of arrival at Mars is the first installment in this ambitious Russian and European project that aims for the first time to directly search for signs of life on Mars.

    The plight of Schiaparelli remains unclear. It is certainly on the Martian surface, but may well have hit the red dust much harder then engineers had planned, and nothing has been heard from it since.

    Data relayed during the lander’s descent shows the initial high-speed entry to the Martian atmosphere went well, with the heatshield slowing the craft and the parachute deploying. However once the back heat shield and parachute were ejected the flow of events did not go to plan.

    This video is available in the following languages:
    English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3eIilSYrok
    French https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEXA_Fo7ABg
    German https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCCFOjP0ocw
    Spanish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMnSKkSLLbA
    Italian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqi7XU0ojqI
    Portuguese https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VyaoG_f51s
    Hungarian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7QLUBb5QbI
    Greek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlrNu0vselk

  • ExoMars at Mars

    ExoMars at Mars

    Three days before arriving at Mars on 19 October 2016, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will release its entry, descent and landing demonstrator, Schiaparelli, towards the Red Planet. ExoMars is several missions in one. Its orbiter is a science and relay mission. The TGO will search for evidence of gases, such as methane, that may be associated with geological or biological processes. The Schiaparelli lander is a technology demonstrator to test key technologies for future missions to Mars.

    The landing site is an elliptical region close to the equator about 100 km long and 15 km wide in the planet’s Meridiani Planum area. It is relatively flat, smooth and well studied as NASA’s Opportunity rover is on the ground and ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, which will also act as one of the data relay orbiters, has been overhead since 2003.

    This video covers the landing and orbital manoeuvres, including the use of aerobraking – which ESA is using for the first time at Mars.