What is ExoMars?

• IAS NEXT, Lucknow
• 23, Mar 2022

Reference News:-

The European Space Agency’s ExoMars 2022 mission has been delayed after the agency suspended all cooperation with Russia’s space program Roscosmos.

About ExoMars:

It was a joint endeavour between ESA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.

• The primary goal of the ExoMars programme is to address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars.

Components of the mission:

The programme comprises two missions.

• The first launched in March 2016 and consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli, an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module.
• TGO’s main objectives are to search for evidence of methane and other trace atmospheric gases that could be signatures of active biological or geological processes. The Schiaparelli probe crashed during its attempt to land on Mars.
• The second, comprising a rover and surface platform, is planned for 2022. Together they will address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars.

Objective:

• The primary aim of the mission is to check if there has ever been life on Mars and also understand the history of water on the planet.
• The main goal is to land ESA’s rover at a site which has high-potential for finding well-preserved organic material, particularly from the history of the planet.

Other Mars Missions:

1. NASA’s Perseverance Rover.
2. UAE’s Hope Mars Mission (UAE’s first-ever interplanetary mission).
3. India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan.
4. Tianwen-1: China’s Mars Mission.