ExoMars mission: ‘13 years of British research strapped to massive bomb’

Blackleaf

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British scientists are facing a nail-biting wait ahead of next week's ExoMars mission launch, warning that 13 years of research is now ‘strapped to a great big bomb.’

The huge proton rocket, which will take the spacecraft to the Red Planet, was rolled out on Friday morning ahead of its launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Monday.

The mission is hunting for life on Mars and will be looking specifically for evidence of methane, a gas primarily produced by living organisms.

After a seven month journey, the ExoMars orbiter will release a probe to the surface and remain in orbit hunting for signs of life.

It is the first time that Britain has ventured to the planet since the ill-fated Beagle 2 mission in 2003.

The probe and orbiter are carrying an array of British instruments, tuned to hunt for elusive methane emissions which could signal the presence of life-forms. It will be followed in two years' time by a rover which is currently being built by Airbus in Hertfordshire.

Dr Manish Patel, from the Open University, who has helped develop the ozone-mapping ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer instrument on the orbiter, said: "This is a fantastic mission; massive.

I spent the last 13 years of my life working on it so I am somewhat excited and nervous. You're strapping an instrument you've devoted your life to on top of a great big bomb.

It's scary but it's why I'm in this business. There won't be many nails left on launch day."

The ExoMars missions are being undertaken jointly by the European Space Agency (Esa) and Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos.


If the scientists find evidence of life - even primitive life that existed billions of years ago - it will be one of the biggest discoveries of all time.

Humanity will have to re-assess its place in the universe, just as it did when Copernicus showed that the Earth and her sister planets orbited the Sun.

ExoMars mission: ‘13 years of British research strapped to massive bomb’


The British-backed ExoMars mission will launch on Monday March 14 with the hope of finding life on Mars



The huge proton rocked which will take ExoMars into Mars' orbit Cresit: ESA



By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
11 Mar 2016
The Telegraph
Comment



British scientists are facing a nail-biting wait ahead of next week's ExoMars mission launch, warning that 13 years of research is now ‘strapped to a great big bomb.’

The huge proton rocket, which will take the spacecraft to the Red Planet, was rolled out on Friday morning ahead of its launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Monday.

The mission is hunting for life on Mars and will be looking specifically for evidence of methane, a gas primarily produced by living organisms.

After a seven month journey, the ExoMars orbiter will release a probe to the surface and remain in orbit hunting for signs of life.

It is the first time that Britain has ventured to the planet since the ill-fated Beagle 2 mission in 2003.

The probe and orbiter are carrying an array of British instruments, tuned to hunt for elusive methane emissions which could signal the presence of life-forms. It will be followed in two years' time by a rover which is currently being built by Airbus in Hertfordshire.

Dr Manish Patel, from the Open University, who has helped develop the ozone-mapping ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer instrument on the orbiter, said: "This is a fantastic mission; massive.


British-backed ExoMars launches on March 14 and will being hunting for alien life in October

I spent the last 13 years of my life working on it so I am somewhat excited and nervous. You're strapping an instrument you've devoted your life to on top of a great big bomb.

It's scary but it's why I'm in this business. There won't be many nails left on launch day."

Mars is thought to be our best chance of finding evidence of extra-terrestrial life because it once had running water and an atmosphere.

The hope of discovering life was raised in December 2014 when intriguing ‘burps’ of methane were recorded by Nasa’s Curiosity Rover.

On Earth, around 90 per cent of methane is produced by organisms, so the expectation is that some kind of life is also emitting the gas on Mars.

Microbial life has been found to live more than one mile beneath the surface of the Witwatersrand basin in South Africa so scientists are sure microbes could survive below the permafrost layer on Mars.

Crucially methane vanishes on Mars after a few hundred years so it must have been produced in the recent past.


The descent of Schiaparelli

If the scientists find evidence of life - even primitive life that existed billions of years ago - it will be one of the biggest discoveries of all time.

Humanity will have to re-assess its place in the universe, just as it did when Copernicus showed that the Earth and her sister planets orbited the Sun.

Planetary scientist Dr Peter Grindrod, from Birkbeck, University of London, who is funded by the UK Space Agency, said: "It's incredibly exciting.

"This is a series of missions that's trying to address one of the fundamental questions in science: is there life anywhere else besides the Earth?

"Finding that life exists elsewhere in the solar system would be a huge discovery, so the evidence has to be strong.

"As they say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."


Ready for blast-off: new images show the proton rocket ready to launch for Mars on Monday


The ExoMars missions are being undertaken jointly by the European Space Agency (Esa) and Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos.

Scientists will need to be patient. Although the orbiter is due to reach Mars in October, it will have to undergo a lengthy series of manoeuvres before the five year scientific mission can begin in December 2017.

Schiaparelli meanwhile is programmed to detach from the orbiter on October 16 and land on a flat region of Mars known as Meridiani Planum three days later.

The disc-shaped descent and landing demonstrator module measures 7.8ft (2.4m) across with its heatshield and weighs 1,300lb (600kg).

It will deliver a small science package to the surface designed to probe the weather around it - measuring wind speed, humidity, pressure, and the amount of dust in the air.


ExoMars being taken to the launch pad by train Credit: ESA

But its chief purpose is to test technology to be incorporated into the ExoMars 2018 landing system.

In May 2018, the hi-tech rover will be launched, which will touch down in January 2019. It is currently undergoing testing in a sandy ‘Mars yard’ at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage.

Using a six and a half foot drill, it will extract samples from under the surface of Mars and analyse them for signs of life. Nasa rovers can only currently drill two inches down.

While the probe and orbiter are looking for life today, the rover will be hunting for signs of past life, digging deeper down into the surface than has ever been achieved before, hoping to find fossilised evidence of microbial communities that may have lived on the planet millions of years ago.

Sue Horne, head of space exploration at the UK Space Agency, said: "We hope TGO will answer once and for all the question of whether the methane has a biological or geological origin.


It is still another two years until the ExoMars Rover, which was designed and built in Britain by Airbus Defence and Space, will be launched


"If it is shown to be biological, created by life, that would be amazing."

The orbiter also carries a high resolution colour 3D camera called CaSSIS (Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System) that can snap photos of surface objects as small as 15 to 20 metres across.

CaSSIS will look ahead and behind the spacecraft to build up stunning 3D maps of craters, mountains, dunes and other surface features.

Dr Grindrod said: "We can definitely expect some spectacular pictures."


The Schiaparelli probe


ExoMars mission: ‘13 years of British research strapped to massive bomb’ - Telegraph
 
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Blackleaf

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It's one of your pet hates because you're a hypocrite. You slam everything Europe at any chance you get.

No, I don't. I slam the EU at any chance I get. There's a big difference between Europe - a continent - and the EU, an undemocratic political union which occupies much of Europe which is eroding British sovereignty.

I'm fed up of the Europhiles in this EU in/out referendum saying things like "If we leave Europe..." This referendum isn't about whether Britain should leave Europe. It's about whether Britain should leave the EU - and you can be in Europe but not in the EU, like Switzerland and Norway and Iceland and Albania and Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
 

Blackleaf

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If it's not British, you slam it. Get over yourself and your dead empire.

Well most things that are the best in the world are British.

And with this British-led mission, it'll be us Brits who discover alien life, one of the greatest scientific disoveries of all time.
 

Sons of Liberty

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Well most things that are the best in the world are British.

And with this British-led mission, it'll be us Brits who discover alien life, one of the greatest scientific disoveries of all time.

British led? I got news for you, it's EU led, they put up a third of the funding for the ESA. Whereas you Brits put up less than 10%.

As usual, you're taking credit for others' work, just like stealing artifacts from all over the world and slapping the "British" label on it.
 

EagleSmack

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Oh great... the Brits are going to crash more of their junk into the Martian surface.
 

Blackleaf

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British led? I got news for you, it's EU led, they put up a third of the funding for the ESA. Whereas you Brits put up less than 10%.

As usual, you're taking credit for others' work, just like stealing artifacts from all over the world and slapping the "British" label on it.

I'm sorry, old chum, but ExoMars is British led. Esa specifically chose Britain to lead the mission.

Britain is to lead Europe's ambitious mission to try to find life on Mars, it emerged today.

The European Space Agency's (ESA's) ruling council has put UK experts in charge of sending a rover vehicle to the red planet.

Through the UK Space Agency, the Government is devoting £47.7 million to ExoMars, almost as much as its £49.2 million contribution to the International Space Station.

Chancellor George Osborne made the surprise announcement in the Commons that Britain had been awarded the 'lead role' in the 2018 ExoMars mission.

Central to the mission will be a hi-tech British-built rover that will navigate itself across the Martian deserts.

The rover, being tested in a sandy 'Mars yard' at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage, will use a two metre (6.5 foot) long drill to extract samples from deep below the surface of the Red Planet and analyse them for signs of life.

The ESA decision means that final fitting and testing of the rover's scientific instruments will now take place in Stevenage and not in Italy, as had previously been proposed.

'From supplying the first nut and bolt to when it's ready to be put on a rocket and sent to Mars, all that work will now be done in Stevenage,' said Mr Close.

 

Blackleaf

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Esa's ruling council has put the UK in charge of the mission - a mission carrying an array of British instruments.
 

Sons of Liberty

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Esa's ruling council has put the UK in charge of the mission - a mission carrying an array of British instruments.

First you say British backed, then you say British led, it's backed and funded and LED by the ESA. Do something on your own for a change before you take the credit. You continue to play a minor role on the world stage. You HAVE to be connected with the EU, otherwise you'll wither away.
 

Blackleaf

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First you say British backed, then you say British led, it's backed and funded and LED by the ESA. Do something on your own for a change before you take the credit.

What part of "Esa's ruling council has put the UK in charge" do you not understand?

Esa has specifically put Britain in charge of the mission.

As for monetary contribution, the UK is the second-largest financial contributor to the ExoMars mission after Italy.

And it is a British-led mission using a British rover and British instruments. And, njo doubt, Esa put Britain in charge of the mission because they know that Britain is Europe's leading scientific nation and her scientific expertise and achievements are second-to-none.

You continue to play a minor role on the world stage.
Britain is the world's fifth-biggest economy (and is well on its way to overtaking Germany and even Japan), has the world's fourth most powerful military, and is a scientific superpower. Britain plays an enormous role in the world.


You HAVE to be connected with the EU, otherwise you'll wither away.
I don't agree. That's what they said when Britain refused to join the now doomed euro.
 

EagleSmack

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First you say British backed, then you say British led, it's backed and funded and LED by the ESA. Do something on your own for a change before you take the credit. You continue to play a minor role on the world stage. You HAVE to be connected with the EU, otherwise you'll wither away.

The Brits will probably have head phones in mission control to make them feel like they're in charge.
 

MHz

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13 years for this shows why you are a failed nation and are a blight on the earth. You need to start doing some constructive things if you want to survive.