ExoMars could find 'very strong evidence' of life on Mars
The ExoMars mission blasting off from Kazakhstan on 14 March could provide "very strong evidence" for life on Mars, a scientist working on the launch has claimed.
"This is the first mission to focus specifically on whether there has ever been life on Mars," ExoMars project scientist Håvan Svedhem told WIRED.
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) satellite will collect samples of the Martian atmosphere to detect whether methane was released from biological or geological sources. In 2014Nasa's Mars Curiosity rover confirmed the presence of large quantities of methane on Mars. The TGO will measure the levels of carbon-14 isotopes that are more common in methane from non-biological sources.
Svedhem said this data could provide the strongest evidence yet for life on Mars: "This would be very exciting -- not 100 percent evidence, but it is very strong evidence that something biological has generated the isotope."
The mission is the result of a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency. The TGO will take seven months to reach Mars, at which point it will release its small Schiaparelli lander.
The rest of the orbiter will then use the Martian atmosphere as an aerobrake to slow down and move closer to the planet. This process will take over a year as the orbiter positions itself to collect samples of atmospheric methane.
Deploying Schiaparelli is a practice run for the 2018 ExoMars launch, which will send a rover to drill two metres into the surface of Mars in the hope of discovering more about the existence of life there.
"The Schiaparelli lander is a demonstration of our capability to safely land a rover on Mars -- testing the right landing area, the right heat area, making sure the parachute deploys correctly, all these steps are critical for a successful landing."
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Though the lander will collect some data on the Martian climate and electrical fields, its battery life means that it's unlikely to remain active for more than a couple of days. "It will be a short lived lander [...] a lot of its battery life will be used just keeping the lander warm."
If Schiaparelli landing goes to plan, it will become the first ESA craft to have touched down successfully on the surface of Mars. It follows the British-built Beagle 2 lander, launched by the ESA, which lost communication with the Earth after landing on Mars in 2003. Images from Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2015 suggested that the lander's solar panels failed to deploy correctly, preventing it from contacting Earth.
The path to Monday's launch has not been smooth for the ExoMars crew. Nasa initially collaborated with ESA on the mission butpulled out in 2012 following cuts to its budget. The mission was pulled back on track later that year when Roscosmos agreed to collaborate on and jointly fund the expedition.
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