[X] My Assistant

[Guest_spaceffm_*]

Double Mission to Mars ( 2009 )

Rover Mass: 200kg ( 40 kg carry on load )
Orbiter: works like Mars Express and serves as a relaisstation for the Rover.

The name EXO-MARS comes from Exobiology, which will be one of the main Goals of the mission. To find extraterrestrial Life.
The Rover namend Pasteur equipped with a sophisticated suite of instruments to search systematically for the existence – past or present - of micro-biological processes will drive several km on the surface and drill up to 1,5m down the soil to analyze it.
This mobile laboratory is an essential precursor to a later Aurora Mars Sample Return Mission.

Mission Status: Study Phase nearing completion.

Picture of the Rover:





Picture of the Orbiter:



This mission will be the first mission in ESA's ambitious Aurora Program.


I was wondering why ther was no thread or section about this new mission of ESA...

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

More details on the proposed mission from the April 18 Aviation Week:


The ESA decided to try for a launch date of 2011 rather than 2013 because
(A) it was felt that stretching out the project to 2013 would actually
increase its costs; and ( the Soyuz booster is cheaper than Ariane 5, but
stretches the cruise time to 2 years.

The craft will weigh 1500 kg, with the lander being 850 kg and the rover
itself only 190 kg. (This is about the same size as the MERs. God knows
how they hope to cram the extra instruments on board -- unless the rover's
purpose is just to collect samples and return them to a main lab on the
stationary lander.)

The mission would cost about 500 million Euros, and may be approved at the
next ESA ministerial summit in December. The big problem will be getting
Germany to sign onto the Aurora Program, but "German officials at the
[design] workshop indicated that Germany hoped to sign on by December."
Britan would cover 15-20% of the costs. But the ESA would still need
outside partners: "NASA will be asked to provide communcations links and
remote-sensing capabilities. Russia could contribute engineering lander
design expertise and perhaps a radioisotope heater unit, under a framework
agreement inked earlier this year."

[gpurcell]

But the ESA would still need
outside partners: "NASA will be asked to provide communcations links and
remote-sensing capabilities.  Russia could contribute engineering lander
design expertise and perhaps a radioisotope heater unit, under a framework
agreement inked earlier this year."

Hm. That means there could be two MSL landers AND ExoMars all on primary mission at the same time!

Will there be capacity to handle those communications demands?