Roscosmos: Apparatus ExoMars will reach Mars orbit in mid-October – Rosbalt.RU

 Spacecraft Russian-European mission ExoMars ( «exomars”) to reach Mars orbit in mid-October 2016. This was stated by the head of state corporation Roscosmos Igor Komarov.

 “In the area of ​​16 October, we expect that the spacecraft” exomars “will orbit Mars and further work will begin. We plan to adjust the orbit in July, “- said Komarov TV channel RT

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 Komarov said that “scientists who worked 10 to 12 years on this project, expect serious results».

 March 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome successfully launched carrier rocket “Proton-M” with the spacecraft of the Russian-European mission ExoMars ExoMars 2016. The unit will investigate the planet’s atmosphere, which will help to answer the question about the existence of life on Mars.

 ExoMars – a joint project of the state corporation “Roscosmos” and the European Space Agency (ESA) to explore Mars. The official cooperation agreement was signed March 14, 2013 in Paris, the head of “Roskosmos” Vladimir Popovkin and head of ESA, Jean-Jacques Order. Up to this point ExoMars project proposed NASA’s part, but the Americans refused for financial reasons, and their place was taken by Russia.

 The main purpose of the first mission will be to find in the Martian atmosphere of methane and traces of other gases, which may be signs of biological and geological processes. Additional task – development of technologies necessary for the implementation of the second phase of the mission, which is expected to take place in 2018.

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 At the time of the study the Martian atmosphere, carried out with the help of ground-based and space-based observatories have shown conflicting results. Scientists agree that methane in the Martian atmosphere is present, but in a small volume (less than 1%). Despite this, since in its geological time scales very short period of existence, the detection of even small amounts of gas indicates the presence of sources currently available. On Earth, the major source of methane in the atmosphere are bacteria, so it is possible that also occur biological processes on Mars. However, the gas may have a chemical origin: it is formed during the various geological processes

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