ESA may be beaten in the race to discover signs of life on Mars after NASA successfully landed its Phoenix spacecraft on the red planet on Sunday night.
The Americans could now be the first to dig beneath the surface of Mars and search for signs of organic matter, five years before the European Space Agency even gets its ExoMars mission off the launch pad.
Phoenix has a probe equipped with a robotic arm to dig for water-ice thought to be buried beneath the surface. It could start to look for the building blocks of life within the next few days.
But ESA knows that the race isn't over yet. ExoMars willl be able to drill up to two metres into the ground, much deeper than Phoenix's 20 inches.
And there is no great rivalry between ESA and NASA – in fact, the first signals from Phoenix were received on Monday morning at ESA's Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany via ESA's Mars Express orbiter.
If the Council of Ministers in The Hague gives ExoMars the green light in November, ExoMars could join Phoenix in searching for signs of life beneath the surface of Mars in 2015 after a launch in 2013.
EADS-Astrium has been developing the rovers at its UK base in Stevenage, UK – a full size model of one can be seen in the space pavilion. ILA exhibitor Kayser-Threde is also developing the biological instrument package.
ExoMars is a truly global project,with teams from all over Europe and Canada. Don McCoy, project manager, says: “ExoMars is the most challenging and rewarding project I have ever been involved with and it is certainly a privilege to lead.
“The mission will trial new ideas for ESA, including landing a heavy payload on the surface of the planet, drilling beneath the surface and performing autonomous laboratory analysis.
“ExoMars will also set the technological capabilities of the ESA for future exploration missions. It will help provide answers to the question of life on other planets, which must surely change our view of ourselves if true,” McCoy concludes.
Visit the official Berlin Air Show site
Flight's ACAS Business Aviation
Flight's products including the Business Aircraft Pocket Guide
All the show news, pictures, blogs, and video.
All the news from ILA 2008
Source: Flight Daily News
