Tag: Trace Gas Orbiter

  • ESA celebrates ExoMars orbiter success, keeps vigil for lost lander

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    Artist’s concept of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter firing its main engine to enter orbit around Mars. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab A European-built orbiter designed to seek out the source of methane on Mars slipped into orbit around the red planet Wednesday after a seven-month interplanetary journey, but mission control lost contact with an experimental landing…

  • ExoMars orbiter fine-tunes path toward red planet

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    Artist’s concept of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Credit: Thales Alenia Space. A European spacecraft cruising toward Mars fired its main engine Thursday, tweaking its trajectory and helping set up for carefully-choreographed simultaneous maneuvers Oct. 19 to place part of the tandem mission into orbit around the red planet and deposit a stationary battery-powered lander…

  • ExoMars orbiter and lander on display

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    The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander were recently presented to the media as they prepare for a tandem launch to the red planet in March. The two spacecraft combined will weigh 4.3 metric tons, or about 9,480 pounds, when fully fueled for liftoff in a 12-day window opening March 14.…

  • Launch of European Mars mission delayed two months

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    Artist’s concept of the Schiaparelli lander separating from the Trace Gas Orbiter on final approach to Mars. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab Officials expect to delay next year’s launch of a European Mars orbiter and lander about two months — from January to March — to remove faulty pressure transducers from the landing craft’s braking system, the…