The European Space Agency is set to launch its next mission to Mars on 14 March. The Trace Gas Orbiter is the first in a pair of missions that will look for past or present life on the planet.
A joint mission with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, the Trace Gas Orbiter is scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakstan, at 9.31 GMT. After a seven-month cruise, it will enter orbit around the Red Planet.
Its objective is to map gases that make up less than 1% of the planet’s atmosphere. Of these “trace” gases, the most important is methane. On Earth, most of the methane in the atmosphere is produced by living things. The rest is a product of geological processes.
In 2003, ESA’s Mars Express mission detected traces of methane in the Martian atmosphere. This sparked interest in whether microbial life or geology had placed it there. The orbiter is designed to help answer this question by precisely measuring the density and distribution of methane across the planet’s surface.
The mission will also land the Schiaparelli module. This will test landing technologies that could be needed for future Mars missions.
The Trace Gas Orbiter is the first mission in the ExoMars programme. The second is scheduled for launch in 2018 and will consist of a rover that will drill into Mars, looking for traces of life underground. Astrobiologists believe that this is the most likely location for microbes on the planet because it would be protected from the harsh radiation and cold experienced at the surface.
