Tag: ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter
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ESA science missions back in action after coronavirus-related shutdown
Artist’s concept of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab Four of the European Space Agency’s robotic missions, including the agency’s two Mars orbiters, are resuming science operations after a stand-down triggered by the positive diagnosis of an employee at ESA’s control center in Germany with the coronavirus. ESA said Thursday that the four…
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Europe’s ExoMars orbiter nears start of methane-sniffing science mission
Artist’s concept of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter during aerobraking at Mars. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab Nearly a year-and-a-half after arriving at the red planet, Europe’s ExoMars orbiter is finally approaching a planned perch around 250 miles over the rust-colored world after repeatedly dipping into the Martian atmosphere to lower its orbit. The end of a…
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Europe’s ExoMars spacecraft begins lowering its orbit
Artist’s concept of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a Russian-launched, European-built spacecraft that arrived at Mars in October, is starting to dip into the upper reaches of the red planet’s atmosphere in a year-long “aerobraking” campaign place the observatory in the right position to hunt for methane,…
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European Mars lander released from ExoMars mothership
Artist’s concept showing separation of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli landing module. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab A saucer-shaped entry, descent and landing demonstrator separated from Europe’s ExoMars orbiter Sunday, beginning a three-day approach aiming to become the first European-built craft to set down on the red planet and return data. Named for Giovanni…