Signal from ExoMars TGO confirmed! We have a mission to Mars!

Both solar arrays confirmed deployed.

For asteroid hunters, ExoMars offers a perfect target because its departure mimics, in reverse, the approach of a small near-Earth object, or NEO. These include rocky asteroids formed between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter which head towards Earth every so often.

For the ExoMars launch, ESA's NEO coordination center in Italy organized an international campaign for ground-based optical observations of the departing spacecraft.

Quick imaging of a rapidly moving object whose location is only approximately known in a short time window is akin to what would happen if an asteroid were discovered on an imminent impact trajectory with Earth.

The predicted path of ExoMars provided by ESA's Space Debris Office in the Agency's operations center in Darmstadt, Germany – home to ExoMars mission control – was converted by the NEO center into pointing information for telescopes.

This information was then shared widely with ESA's network of collaborating observatories in the southern hemisphere, from where ExoMars was observable. Excellent images were acquired by Alison Tripp and Sarah Roberts using a 1 m-diameter telescope in Australia, and by Grant Christie at the Stardome Observatory in Auckland, New Zealand.

The most remarkable images, however, were acquired just before midnight local time by the Observatório Astronômico do Sertão de Itaparica team in Brazil led by Daniela Lazzaro, with Sergio Silva at the telescope.

In their images, the spacecraft appears as a bright object surrounded by at least six other fainter spots – elements of Proton's discarded upper stage – moving together in the sky (see red arrows in annotated version below).

...Briz-M was supposed to separate cleanly in one large piece without producing any additional fragments. Secondly, and more importantly, after the separation the space tug was programmed to fire twice to propel itself to a safe disposal orbit as far away from its former cargo as possible. The resulting "graveyard" trajectory would ensure that the "blind and deaf" space tug, now drifting through interplanetary space, would not come anywhere near Mars, where it could contaminate the planet's pristine environment with Earth's bugs. (Unlike Mars landers, rocket stages are not sterilized in accordance with strict international standards.)

According to sources in the Russian space industry, the first of Briz-M's two collision-avoidance maneuvers was to last around 12 seconds. Once it was a safe distance from ExoMars, the rocket stage would fire again, this time for around 1.5 minutes, until the engine consumed all the remaining explosive propellant aboard. Upon completion of the second maneuver, valves would open to vent the high-pressure gas used to force propellant into the engines.

That's what's supposed to happen. The initial info available to Russian tracking experts after the launch of ExoMars indicated that Briz-M had worked as planned. But the latest tracking photos indicate that something happened before the spacecraft had had a chance to go into its graveyard orbit.

Briefing reporters in Moscow, Igor A. Komarov reiterated statements made by Proton prime contractor Khrunichev Space Center of Moscow, saying the Breeze-M upper stage separated ExoMars without incident and then proceeded with the standard passivation and collision-avoidance maneuvers.

Komarov said he had seen photos taken from a Brazilian ground telescope that appeared to show small objects in the vicinity of the Breeze-M stage and ExoMars.

"I do have these pictures, provided by the Brazilian observatory, showing the ExoMars spacecraft surrounded by some dimly illuminated objects reportedly related to the upper stage," Komarov said.

"Telemetry and other objectively verifiable data available to us, covering the entire time from the separation and the contamination and collision avoidance maneuvers to the passivation of the upper stage, show that all these steps have been performed successfully, without any anomalies," Komarov said. "There is absolutely no indication of an upper-stage explosion or breakup."

The Schiaparelli module was released from the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) at 14:42 GMT (16:42 CEST; 10:42 a.m. EDT) as planned.

Today, three days before gravity will ensure the arrival of ExoMars 2016 at Mars, the Schiaparelli Entry, Descent & landing demonstrator Module separated from the TGO orbiter and is now en route on a ballistic trajectory to reach the Red Planet, enter its atmosphere and land softly in an area close to the equator known as Meridiani Planum.

The ExoMars/TGO orbiter is in great shape and ready to swing into orbit around Mars, while the Schiaparelli lander is programmed to wake up at about 15:37 CEST [9:37 a.m. EDT] for its landing demonstration mission.

There is a cooperative international "listening in' campaign ready to monitor signals from the landing module as it conducts the critical entry, descent and landing sequence today, leading to touch down and the start of surface science at about 16:48 CEST [10:48 a.m. EDT]. The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India will listen from Earth, while a fleet of NASA and ESA orbiters listen from Mars orbit.

Schiaparelli recording from Mars Express is inconclusive — not clear yet what the status of the lander is.

Acquisition of orbiter signal! ESOC hears Trace Gas Orbiter's signal loud and clear after it emerges from behind Mars.

Flight Dynamics need around two hours of data to confirm we've reached orbit with Trace Gas Orbiter, should come around 20:30 CEST.

YES! CONFIRMED! I'm in Mars orbit!

Experts will work through the night to assess the @ESA_EDM situation - next news will be tomorrow morning at 10:00 CEST.

Europe's Schiaparelli lander not only slammed into Mars at "a considerable speed," but it may have exploded on impact, a new photo from a U.S. orbiter has revealed.

The European cost of the ExoMars programme is €1.3 billion (under economic conditions of 2008), assuming launches in 2016 and 2020.

Keep in mind that Schiaparelli wasn't designed to be a full-fledged Mars landing mission. It was a demonstrator with a very basic science package. NASA never launched a comparable spacecraft — it went full bore with each of its landers and rovers.

It's too early to draw any conclusions from the crash of Schiaparelli, but it looks like everything worked up to the end of the parachute phase. The crash site is comfortably within the landing ellipse, so guidance wasn't a problem. Faulty rocket system? Faulty software switching the rockets off too soon? We'll see.

Cause of Schiaparelli crash: Radar-altimeter software timed out, leading on board computer to think it was on ground and shut-off retro thrusters.

It is possible the hydrazine propellant tanks in the module exploded preferentially in one direction upon impact, throwing debris from the planet's surface in the direction of the blast, but more analysis is needed to explore this idea further.

Methane (CH4) is an organic molecule present in gaseous form in the Earth's atmosphere. More than 90% of methane on our home planet is produced by living organisms. The recent detection of plumes of methane in the northern hemisphere of Mars is of great interest because of its potential biological origin, though other explanations may also be possible.

quote:

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Originally posted by Brian Bayley:
How can anything "explode" in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, a gas which doesn't support combustion?

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It is poised to solve one of the most controversial mysteries in Martian science: why methane, a possible signature of life, is being released on the red planet.