The European Space Agency (ESA) is leading a new mission to Mars called ExoMars, and it’s about to attempt to land a probe on the Red Planet’s surface. The probe is called Schiaparelli for the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, one of the first to map Mars’ surface in the late 1800s. What would Giovanni have thought if he could have watched the probe detach successfully from its mothership on Sunday (October 16, 2016)? The probe and mothership are both now barreling toward Mars. The Schiaparelli probe will make a controlled landing on Wednesday (October 19). Details below on how to watch online.
What is it you’re going to be watching exactly? The video above provides a great overview of the mission. The one below is an animation showing the two Exomars craft on approach to Mars (this is where they are at this writing), with one of them ultimately landing. The critical moment comes on Wednesday with the Mars Orbit Insertion burn. It’s a long engine firing – more than two hours – that’ll slow the spacecraft down sufficiently to be captured into Mars orbit.
Here’s how you can watch the landing attempt online. On Wednesday, ESA will webcast coverage of the attempt with a series of programs. Translate all times to your time zone here. Watch all livestreaming events at ESA’s website or directly via ESA’s livestream channel.
Wednesday’s schedule:
– An ESA Social TV webcast is scheduled to run from 1300 to 1515 UTC (9 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. ET). It’ll also be livestreamed.
– ESA’s main ExoMars program will then follow in two parts: The first will begin at 15:44 UTC (11:44 a.m. ET) and continue until about 1700 UTC (1 p.m. ET).
– The second half of that broadcast will begin at 1825 UTC (2:25 p.m. ET) and end at about 2000 GMT (4 p.m. ET).
Thursday’s schedule:
– The agency will webcast a press conference to deliver a mission status update, beginning at 0800 GMT (4 a.m. ET). Watch at ESA’s website or directly via ESA’s livestream channel.
If you can’t make any of those times, follow the mission via text updates from ESA.
Or follow via Twitter via the main ExoMars mission page or the ExoMars orbiter.
It’s incredible to imagine this craft in space, barreling toward the Red Planet at 13,000 miles per hour (21,000 km/h) and ultimately setting down on Mars’ surface. The animation below shows you Schiaparelli’s trajectory as it makes its final approach and ultimate descent to the planet’s surface on October 19. Schiaparelli will use a heatshield, parachute and thrusters to brake to about 6 feet (2 meters) above Mars’ surface. At that point, a crushable structure on its underside will absorb the final shock.
How likely is Schiaparelli to land successfully? From the first successful landing (the mind-blowing Viking 1 in 1976) until today, there’ve been many successes and also many failures. Check out this timeline of Mars landing attempts. Ouch!
But the attempt underscores the reality that many eyes on Earth are turned toward Mars now. The ExoMars mission was launched from Earth in March, 2016, and took about six months to travel to Mars. In contrast, the vision of SpaceX’s Elon Musk’s – announced on September 27 – involves a three-month travel time to Mars and, ultimately, a self-sustaining, one-million-person civilization on Mars involves faster space raft and a travel time of only three months). And of course, NASA has plans to send humans to Mars, too.
The most recent update (as of this writing) from ESA said:
The ExoMars/TGO orbiter and the Schiaparelli demonstration lander module are in good health and continuing, since separation yesterday at 16:42 CEST, on separate paths toward Mars. Schiaparelli is already on a trajectory that targets a landing in an area close to the equator known as Meridiani Planum. Following this morning’s 11.6-m/sec orbit-raising manoeuvre, TGO has ‘lifted’ its trajectory so as to avoid the planet, while continuing to draw closer.
Go Schiaparelli! But go gently.
Mars as seen by the webcam another mission – ESA’s Mars Express orbiter – on October 16, 2016, as ExoMars, is about to reach the Red Planet. Read more about this image.
Bottom line: How to watch online as the European Schiaparelli probe – part of the ExoMars mission – attempts to land on the Red Planet on Wednesday.
Cool animation: Schiaparelli’s descent to Mars
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2ezclvG
The European Space Agency (ESA) is leading a new mission to Mars called ExoMars, and it’s about to attempt to land a probe on the Red Planet’s surface. The probe is called Schiaparelli for the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, one of the first to map Mars’ surface in the late 1800s. What would Giovanni have thought if he could have watched the probe detach successfully from its mothership on Sunday (October 16, 2016)? The probe and mothership are both now barreling toward Mars. The Schiaparelli probe will make a controlled landing on Wednesday (October 19). Details below on how to watch online.
What is it you’re going to be watching exactly? The video above provides a great overview of the mission. The one below is an animation showing the two Exomars craft on approach to Mars (this is where they are at this writing), with one of them ultimately landing. The critical moment comes on Wednesday with the Mars Orbit Insertion burn. It’s a long engine firing – more than two hours – that’ll slow the spacecraft down sufficiently to be captured into Mars orbit.
Here’s how you can watch the landing attempt online. On Wednesday, ESA will webcast coverage of the attempt with a series of programs. Translate all times to your time zone here. Watch all livestreaming events at ESA’s website or directly via ESA’s livestream channel.
Wednesday’s schedule:
– An ESA Social TV webcast is scheduled to run from 1300 to 1515 UTC (9 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. ET). It’ll also be livestreamed.
– ESA’s main ExoMars program will then follow in two parts: The first will begin at 15:44 UTC (11:44 a.m. ET) and continue until about 1700 UTC (1 p.m. ET).
– The second half of that broadcast will begin at 1825 UTC (2:25 p.m. ET) and end at about 2000 GMT (4 p.m. ET).
Thursday’s schedule:
– The agency will webcast a press conference to deliver a mission status update, beginning at 0800 GMT (4 a.m. ET). Watch at ESA’s website or directly via ESA’s livestream channel.
If you can’t make any of those times, follow the mission via text updates from ESA.
Or follow via Twitter via the main ExoMars mission page or the ExoMars orbiter.
It’s incredible to imagine this craft in space, barreling toward the Red Planet at 13,000 miles per hour (21,000 km/h) and ultimately setting down on Mars’ surface. The animation below shows you Schiaparelli’s trajectory as it makes its final approach and ultimate descent to the planet’s surface on October 19. Schiaparelli will use a heatshield, parachute and thrusters to brake to about 6 feet (2 meters) above Mars’ surface. At that point, a crushable structure on its underside will absorb the final shock.
How likely is Schiaparelli to land successfully? From the first successful landing (the mind-blowing Viking 1 in 1976) until today, there’ve been many successes and also many failures. Check out this timeline of Mars landing attempts. Ouch!
But the attempt underscores the reality that many eyes on Earth are turned toward Mars now. The ExoMars mission was launched from Earth in March, 2016, and took about six months to travel to Mars. In contrast, the vision of SpaceX’s Elon Musk’s – announced on September 27 – involves a three-month travel time to Mars and, ultimately, a self-sustaining, one-million-person civilization on Mars involves faster space raft and a travel time of only three months). And of course, NASA has plans to send humans to Mars, too.
The most recent update (as of this writing) from ESA said:
The ExoMars/TGO orbiter and the Schiaparelli demonstration lander module are in good health and continuing, since separation yesterday at 16:42 CEST, on separate paths toward Mars. Schiaparelli is already on a trajectory that targets a landing in an area close to the equator known as Meridiani Planum. Following this morning’s 11.6-m/sec orbit-raising manoeuvre, TGO has ‘lifted’ its trajectory so as to avoid the planet, while continuing to draw closer.
Go Schiaparelli! But go gently.
Mars as seen by the webcam another mission – ESA’s Mars Express orbiter – on October 16, 2016, as ExoMars, is about to reach the Red Planet. Read more about this image.
Bottom line: How to watch online as the European Schiaparelli probe – part of the ExoMars mission – attempts to land on the Red Planet on Wednesday.
Cool animation: Schiaparelli’s descent to Mars
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2ezclvG
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