Европейский посадочный проект ExoMars становится второй серией совместной с США программы. Первым будет орбитальный аппарат для изучения малых составляющих атмосферы, ну а третьим, в туманной перспективе, полет за грунтом.
ЦитироватьAug. 02, 2010
Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
Jorge Vago
European Space Agency, The Netherlands
31-71-5655211
jorge.vago@esa.int
RELEASE: 10-181
NASA AND ESA'S FIRST JOINT MISSION TO MARS SELECTS INSTRUMENTS
WASHINGTON -- NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have embarked on a joint program to explore Mars in the coming decades and selected the five science instruments for the first mission.
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, scheduled to launch in 2016, is the first of three joint robotic missions to the Red Planet. It will study the chemical makeup of the Martian atmosphere with a 1000-fold increase in sensitivity over previous Mars orbiters. The mission will focus on trace gases, including methane, which could be potentially geochemical or biological in origin and be indicators for the existence of life on Mars. The mission also will serve as an additional communications relay for Mars surface missions beginning in 2018.
"Independently, NASA and ESA have made amazing discoveries up to this point," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "Working together, we'll reduce duplication of effort, expand our capabilities and see results neither ever could have achieved alone."
NASA and ESA invited scientists worldwide to propose the spacecraft's instruments. The five selected were from 19 proposals submitted in January. Both agencies evaluated the submissions and chose those with the best science value and lowest risk.
The selection of the instruments begins the first phase of the new NASA-ESA alliance for future ventures to Mars. The instruments and the principal investigators are:
-- Mars Atmosphere Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer -- A spectrometer designed to detect very low concentrations of the molecular components of the Martian atmosphere: Paul Wennberg, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Calif.
-- High Resolution Solar Occultation and Nadir Spectrometer -- A spectrometer designed to detect traces of the components of the Martian atmosphere and to map where they are on the surface: Ann C. Vandaele, Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Brussels, Belgium.
-- ExoMars Climate Sounder -- An infrared radiometer that provides daily global data on dust, water vapor and other materials to provide the context for data analysis from the spectrometers: John Schofield, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.
-- High Resolution Color Stereo Imager -- A camera that provides four-color stereo imaging at a resolution of two million pixels over an 8.5 km swath: Alfred McEwen, University of Arizona.
-- Mars Atmospheric Global Imaging Experiment -- A wide-angle, multi-spectral camera to provide global images of Mars in support of the other instruments: Bruce Cantor, Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif.
The science teams on all the instruments have broad international participation from Europe and the United States, with important hardware contributions from Canada and Switzerland.
"To fully explore Mars, we want to marshal all the talents we can on Earth," said David Southwood, ESA director for Science and Robotic Exploration. "Now NASA and ESA are combining forces for the joint ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission. Mapping methane allows us to investigate further that most important of questions: Is Mars a living planet, and if not, can or will it become so in the future?"
NASA and ESA share a common interest in conducting robotic missions to the Red Planet for scientific purposes and to prepare for possible human visits. After a series of extensive discussions, the science heads of both agencies agreed on a plan of cooperation during a July 2009 meeting in Plymouth, England, later confirmed by ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a statement of intent that was signed in November.
The plan consists of two Mars cooperative missions in 2016 and 2018, and a later joint sample return mission. The 2016 mission features the European-built ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a European-built small lander demonstrator, a primarily-U.S. international science payload, and NASA-provided launch vehicle and communications components. ESA member states will provide additional instrument support.
The 2018 mission consists of a European rover with a drilling capability, a NASA rover capable of caching selected samples for potential future return to Earth, a NASA landing system, and a NASA launch vehicle. These activities are designed to serve as the foundation of a cooperative program to increase science returns and move the agencies toward a joint Mars sample return mission in the2020s.
NASA's Mars Exploration Program seeks to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic system, including its present and past environment, climate cycles, geology and potential for life. JPL manages the program and development of the NASA-supplied instruments for the 2016 orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
Смежная тема: http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7056&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
http://www.rian.ru/science/20100802/261076850.html
Цитировать22:22 02/08/2010
МОСКВА, 2 авг - РИА Новости. NASA и Европейское космическое агентство пришли к соглашению относительно первой совместной научной программы исследования Марса и утвердили список исследовательского оборудования, которое будет использоваться в ходе нескольких миссий к красной планете, сообщают пресс-службы агентств.
Целью совместной программы является оценка Марса как динамической системы, включая его современное состояние и климат в предыдущие эпохи, климатические циклы, геологию и пригодность для существования на нем живых систем.
Первая часть совместной программы исследований подразумевает запуск беспилотного модуля ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, предназначенного для детального исследования марсианской атмосферы. Оборудование этого автоматического орбитального космического корабля позволит определить газы различной химической природы, составляющие атмосферу Марса, с чувствительностью в 1000 раз более высокой, чем это было доступно современным и предыдущим искусственным спутникам красной планеты.
Особое внимание планируется уделить так называемым примесным газам, концентрация которых в атмосфере очень мала. Среди них ученые планируют детально изучить количество и распределение метана, следы которого были обнаружены в ходе предыдущих миссий. Как полагают ученые, этот газ может иметь биологическое происхождение и указывать на существование каких-либо форм жизни.
Кроме того, спутник послужит базовым модулем связи для дальнейших беспилотных автоматических миссий на Марс, первые из которых намечены на 2018 год.
После объявления открытого конкурса руководство совместной программы выбрало пять из 19 предложений относительно научного оборудования корабля, поступивших от различных научных групп по всему миру. Заявки поступили еще в январе этого года, после чего эксперты занялись оценкой их потенциальной научной эффективности и рисков, связанных с использованием того или иного типа исследовательских приборов.
Согласно решению совместной комиссии, на борту ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter будут размещены несколько ИК-спектрометров высокого разрешения, которые позволят определять наличие в марсианской атмосфере тех или иных газовых молекул даже в чрезвычайно низких концентрациях. Кроме того, оборудование позволит составить карту распределения компонентов атмосферы над поверхностью красной планеты.
В дополнение к этому отдельный спектрометр будет посуточно фиксировать глобальные климатические данные, определяя количество пыли, паров воды и другие параметры, служащие вспомогательными данными для анализа данных ИК-спектрометров.
Кроме того, спутник Марса будет оснащен стереокамерой высокого разрешения для построения новой глобальной карты марсианской поверхности, а также многодиапазонной камерой высокого разрешения, служащей вспомогательным инструментом для остального оборудования.
"Независимо друг от друга NASA и ESA сделали много замечательных научных открытий. Работая сообща, мы перестанем дублировать друг друга, расширим наши возможности и сможем рассчитывать на результаты, которых бы не смогли достичь в одиночку", - отметил Эд Вейлер (Ed Weiler), сотрудник Дирекции научных миссий NASA.
В совместной программе также запланированы миссии со спускаемыми аппаратами, возвращаемыми на Землю, которые должны привести ученым образцы марсианского грунта.
http://www.infuture.ru/article/3564
ЦитироватьExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter - совместный проект ЕКА и НАСА
31 августа 2010 22:30:57 Виктор [jenova]
Совместная американо-европейская миссия ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter будет стремиться обнаружить газообразные признаки возможной жизни на Марсе. Инструмент, называемый ExoMars Climate Sounder, будет поставлять важнейшие ежедневные наблюдения изменений структуры атмосферы.
Европейское космическое агентство и НАСА выбрали пять инструментов для ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Европейское космическое агентство предоставит один инструмент и космический корабль. НАСА предоставит четыре инструмента, в том числе ExoMars Climate Sounder, который был разработан в лаборатории реактивного движения НАСА в Пасадене, Калифорния
Два других выбранных инструмента представляют собой спектрометры, по одному из Европы и Соединенных Штатов Америки, и предназначены для обнаружения очень низких концентраций метана и других важных газовых примесей в атмосфере Марса.
"Чтобы рассматривать следы газа в контексте, необходимо знать структуру фона и циркуляцию атмосферы", сказал Тим Шофилд, главный исследователь климата ExoMars Climate Sounder. "Мы будем предоставлять информацию, необходимую для понимания распределения малых газовых примесей, определенных спектрометрами. Мы сделаем это, характеризуя роль атмосферной циркуляции и аэрозольных примесей, например, пыли и льда, в обнаруженных следах газов.".
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/14033.jpg)
ExoMars Climate Sounder является инфракрасным радиометром, предназначенным для работы постоянно, днем и ночью, с орбиты космического корабля, находящегося на высоте около 400 километров (250 миль) над поверхностью Марса. Инструмент сможет поворачиваться, измерять температуру, водяной пар, пыль лед для каждого 5-километрового прироста в высоту по всей атмосфере.
2016 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter является первым в серии запланированных миссий сотрудничества Европейского космического агентства и НАСА. Переменное присутствие небольших количеств метана в атмосфере Марса было обнаружено орбитальными и наземными наблюдениями. Основной целью миссии является получение лучшего понимания метана и других газовых примесей, которые могут быть свидетельствами возможной биологической активности.
The presentations given at the 2nd ExoMars Industry Day on 23 September 2010 are now available in PDF format. (http://exploration.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=47773)
Thanks! :wink:
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/101124-exomars-team-readies-proposal.html
ЦитироватьWed, 24 November, 2010
ExoMars Industry Team Readies Contract Proposal[/size]
TURIN, Italy — The industrial team leading Europe's two-part ExoMars mission with NASA will submit a contract proposal in January valued at around 550 million euros ($753 million) for approval by the European Space Agency (ESA), the program manager for prime contractor Thales Alenia Space Italy said Nov. 24.
The 18-nation ESA has already spent nearly 200 million euros on the design and early development phases for ExoMars, which is a deep collaboration with NASA on missions set for launch in 2016 and 2018.
Both will be launched by NASA-provided Atlas 5 rockets as part of the division of roles agreed to between the two agencies. NASA and ESA officials have said the missions, whose work shares took months to sort out, could serve as a model for a future global space-exploration strategy being developed by the world's principal spacefaring nations.
The 2016 mission, to be led by ESA, will include a Mars telecommunications orbiter that will also examine the Mars atmosphere, and in particular take a further look at still-unexplained methane concentrations that have given some hope that it might be a sign of biological life. It could also be geological activity on the planet. This mission will also include an entry, descent and landing system, a 600-kilogram module that will land on the martian surface in the middle of the seasonal dust storm. It is designed to operate on the surface for less than two days.
The NASA-led 2018 mission will include NASA- and ESA-provided rovers to be lowered to the surface attached by tether to NASA's sky crane, to be first used on the U.S. space agency's Mars Science Laboratory mission. The Mars Science Laboratory, a small-truck-sized rover, is scheduled for launch in late 2011. ExoMars program officials say the entry, descent and landing maneuver of the two rovers will be one of the mission's most stressful moments.
Briefing reporters here Nov. 24, Vincenzo Giorgio, director of Thales Alenia Space Italy's optical observation and science business line, said the ExoMars industrial team in late October submitted a program proposal to ESA in a 6-gigabyte document. Agency reviews are ongoing, and the industrial team expects to submit its full program contract proposal in January.
Giorgio said the team has been made fully aware by ESA that the mission's cost ceiling must be respected. ESA Science Director David Southwood had to overcome the resistance of some ESA governments to preserve ExoMars, and in doing so committed to the cap of 1 billion euros. Not all of that money has been secured, but the more than 800 million euros that has been made available is enough to sign the full two-mission industrial contract.
The agency earlier this year received a small boost when Britain's newly created U.K. Space Agency agreed to pitch in an additional 12 million euros for the ExoMars rover, in which Astrium U.K of Stevenage, England, has a large role.
Я вот только так и не понял, что с этим чуваком будет?
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl
http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1/86_read-28650/
ЦитироватьThe way to Mars – DLR researchers simulate the martian atmosphere[/size]
20 January 2011
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/80903.jpg) (http://www.dlr.de/en/Portaldata/1/Resources/standorte/koeln/sacomar_partikelL2K.JPG)
Glowing particles in the arc-heated wind tunnel
To support the European ExoMars Mission to explore the Red Planet, an international project is being launched on 20 January 2011 with the aim of simulating the entry of spacecraft into the martian atmosphere. The project team is made up of German, Russian and Italian scientists and will be coordinated by the Supersonic and Hypersonic Technology Department (
Мда. Было бы классно, если бы ЕКА и НАСА объединились и создали огромный двухтонный ровер на базе МСЛ. Вот была бы лаборатория: и геологическая, и химическая, и биологическая... А учитывая, что окно 2018 года очень благоприятно, послали бы, как в давние времена, две штуки. Первый пусть на северный полюс едет, второй на равнину Утопия. Пусть проверит Викингов и их показатели.
ЦитироватьМда. Было бы классно, если бы ЕКА и НАСА объединились и создали огромный двухтонный ровер на базе МСЛ. Вот была бы лаборатория: и геологическая, и химическая, и биологическая... А учитывая, что окно 2018 года очень благоприятно, послали бы, как в давние времена, две штуки. Первый пусть на северный полюс едет, второй на равнину Утопия. Пусть проверит Викингов и их показатели.
Да! Давайте их научим класть как мы все яйца в одну корзину :D :D :D
del
ЦитироватьЦитироватьМда. Было бы классно, если бы ЕКА и НАСА объединились и создали огромный двухтонный ровер на базе МСЛ. Вот была бы лаборатория: и геологическая, и химическая, и биологическая... А учитывая, что окно 2018 года очень благоприятно, послали бы, как в давние времена, две штуки. Первый пусть на северный полюс едет, второй на равнину Утопия. Пусть проверит Викингов и их показатели.
Да! Давайте их научим класть как мы все яйца в одну корзину :D :D :D
Мда, вот что меня напрягает в Куриосити, так это то, что он один. Тьфу-тьфу-тьфу.
НАСА хочет переплюнуть ЕКА по обнаружению жизни на Марсе. В бюджете НАСА на 2011 ф.г. заложены средства на НИР по проекту MAFL Rover 2016, это та самая Астробиологическая лаборатория. Собираются делать на базе Куриосити. И как же, спрашивается, контракт по ЭкзоМарсу?
Планам по биороверу гораздо больше лет чем экзомарсу. Причем дадут ли денег - никто не знает.
Проверить показания викингов - вы дурак?
ЦитироватьНАСА хочет переплюнуть ЕКА по обнаружению жизни на Марсе. В бюджете НАСА на 2011 ф.г. заложены средства на НИР по проекту MAFL Rover 2016, это та самая Астробиологическая лаборатория. Собираются делать на базе Куриосити. И как же, спрашивается, контракт по ЭкзоМарсу?
А в проекте на 2012 ф.г. уже ничего не заложено...
Изучение Красной планеты под угрозой срыва
http://news.mail.ru/society/5466172/?frommail=1
http://rnd.cnews.ru/tech/news/top/index_science.shtml?2011/03/15/432117
ЦитироватьЕвропейцы вплотную занялись Марсом[/size]
15.03.11, Вт, 18:47, Мск
Европейское космическое агентство (ЕКА) планирует испытать ряд ключевых технологий и инструментов, разработанных для предстоящей программы ExoMars. В рамках этой совместной с НАСА программы исследователи будут изучать атмосферу Марса, геологию, водный цикл, а также искать признаки прошлой и настоящей жизни на Красной планете.
Европейские ученые нашли для испытаний подходящую площадку – широкую равнину рядом с алжирской границей к востоку от Атласских гор. Обилие красных, рыжевато-коричневых и черных пород напоминает поверхность Марса, а далекие горы на горизонте похожи на стены древнего кратера, как на снимках марсоходов Spirit и Opportunity. Даже вулканическое происхождение многих местных пород аналогично геологической истории Марса.
Первую часть программы ExoMars планируется начать в 2016 году, когда на орбиту Марса будет выведен космический аппарат, анализирующий состав атмосферы, в частности обнаруживающий метан, который может быть признаком жизни или вулканической активности. ExoMars должна помочь ответить на вопрос, существуют ли подземные марсианские колонии микроорганизмов, и выбрать место для посадки европейского марсохода.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/17230.jpg)
ExoMars-2016 отделяет спускаемый аппарат с метеостанцией
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/17231.jpg)
Марсоход ExoMars-2018 на поверхности Марса
В дополнение к орбитальному аппарату в 2016 году на поверхность Марса отправится стационарная метеорологическая платформа. Она оснащена аккумулятором и проработает всего от четырех до восьми дней, но главное - ЕКА впервые выполнит посадку на Красную планету. Капсула с метеостанцией отделится от орбитального аппарата, спустится на парашюте, замедлится с помощью тормозных ракет и сядет на поверхность. Низ капсулы будет покрыт специальным разрушаемым материалом, который должен защитить оборудование от удара о крупные камни.
Эту систему посадки не планируется использовать для следующей части программы – приземления марсохода ExoMars в 2018 году (он будет использовать систему НАСА, разработанную для новейшего марсохода Curiosity). Однако опыт и технологии, испытанные метеостанцией в 2016 году, могут быть использованы в других миссиях ЕКА.
Марсоход ExoMars будет больше, чем Spirit и Opportunity, и сможет работать на поверхности планеты не менее 218 марсианских дней. Шестиколесный ExoMars оснастят большим набором инструментов: георадар, рентгеновский дифрактометр, инфракрасные приборы, камеры, спектрометры, сверла и другие инструменты для работы с грунтом и породой.
Засушливый и разнообразный ландшафт Марокко предоставляет ученым массу возможностей для проверки марсианских технологий и инструментов. Одним из первых испытаний, запланированных на этот год, будет тест лазерного высотомера для спускаемой капсулы ExoMars 2016. В ходе эксперимента платформу с прибором для измерения отражательной способности грунта поднимут на 20-30 м над поверхностью с помощью привязных воздушных шаров. Ученые планируют выполнить этот тест над несколькими типами поверхностей, которые имеют сходство с марсианским ландшафтом. В настоящее время для этих испытаний инженеры работают над цифровыми моделями с очень высоким разрешением, используя стереоизображения 5-6 различных районов, сделанные с борта беспилотного вертолета. Изображения будут иметь разрешение от 3 до 30 сантиметров на пиксел - лучше, чем 25-50 см на пиксель с камеры HiRISE, установленной на космическом аппарате Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Также беспилотный вертолет сымитирует посадку спускаемого космического аппарата на поверхность Марса, спускаясь с высоты со скоростью несколько десятков метров в секунду.
Кроме того, в различных местах долины будет испытано сверло для марсохода ExoMars. В рамках этих испытаний будет проведено бурение на глубину до 2 м в районе недалеко от города Уарзазат (Ouarzazate), где когда-то была древняя лагуна. В почве этого места сохранились ископаемые строматолиты возрастом 600 млн лет - пласты породы, созданные микробами в водной среде.
Аналогичные строматолиты можно найти по всему миру. Микробы, которые создают эти структуры, являются одними из самых древних форм жизни на Земле. Хотя строматолиты пока не найдены на Красной планете, но последние исследования свидетельствуют, что древний Марс был покрыт океанами и имел все условия, необходимые для жизни этих микроорганизмов.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13002214
ЦитироватьUS and Europe mull single 2018 Mars rover[/size]
By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/17595.jpg)
The idea was to send two rovers together - one from the US (Max-C), and one from Europe (ExoMars)
America and Europe are looking now at flying just one rover to Mars in 2018.
The US and European space agencies (Nasa and Esa) had planned to land two vehicles together on the Red Planet to perform a kind of tandem mission.
One rover would have investigated below the surface with a drill; the other was to have collected interesting rocks for later return to Earth.
But cost concerns have prompted Nasa and Esa to consider combining these roles into a single vehicle.
The idea follows high level discussions between the partners in California.
It was discussed by Esa member states on Thursday and received broad support. A lot of technical details still need to be worked out, however.
Continue reading the main story
"Start Quote
We expect to see a very strong involvement on the part of the UK in the development of this rover"
Dr David Parker UK Space Agency
Minimise change
The new rover would be larger than either of the vehicles in the paired concept - known as ExoMars (Esa) and Max-C (Nasa).
One suggestion is that the new vehicle would be built in Europe and take a mix of European and US instruments.
Nasa would provide the rocket to get it into space and the "mothership" to carry it to Mars.
Critically, this new vehicle's placement on the surface of the planet would use the equipment planned for the American "Curiosity" rover due for launch this year.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/17596.jpg)
MSL-Curiosity will be lowered to the surface of Mars by a rocket-powered skycrane
The 900kg Curiosity - also called the Mars Science Laboratory - will be lowered on to Mars with tethers slung from a rocket-powered "sky-crane".
Making as few changes as possible to this landing architecture for 2018 is considered an imperative if costs on the whole venture are to be constrained.
Despite the reorganisation, the goals of the 2018 mission opportunity would stay broadly the same.
These would be to look for signs of past or present life by digging down into the soil; and packaging, or caching, rocks that can be picked up and despatched to Earth laboratories by a subsequent mission.
In what are acknowledged to be difficult financial times, America and Europe are both having to reassess how they explore the Solar System.
An influential group of US planetary scientists issued a report last month in which they said America's plans at Mars were too costly and, unchecked, could damage other space projects.
They called for the $3.5bn (
http://cybersecurity.ru/space/119956.html
ЦитироватьЕвропа и США будут работать на Марсе на одном марсоходе[/size]
(23:43) 09.04.2011
Америка и Европа в очередной раз пересматривают планы по совместной отправке аппаратов к Марсу в 2018 году. Ранее партнеры договорились лететь к Красной планете на одном космическом аппарате. Теперь и на Марсе они намерены работать одним вездеходом, что позволит ведомствам существенно сэкономить средства на данном проекте.
Вездеход будет исследовать марсианскую поверхность, бурить скважины и собирать образцы марсианской породы для последующего возвращения на Землю. Ранее планировалось проводить все эти исследования при помощи двух спускаемых аппаратов, но бюджетные урезания по обе стороны Атлантики вынуждают космических партнеров довольствоваться одним аппаратом.
Идею о работе на одном аппарате представители НАСА и Европейского космического агентства на этой неделе обсудили в Калифорнии. Ранее страны, входящие в ЕКА, высказались в поддержку данной идеи. Впрочем, оба космических ведомства говорят, что им предстоит согласовать и решить еще много вопросов о партнерстве.
Новый марсианский вездеход предполагается сделать бОльших размеров, нежели ранее представленные концепты европейского ExoMars и американского Max-C. Сейчас планируется, что сборка марсохода будет проводиться в Европе, а научное оборудование для него будут частично поставлять ЕКА, частично НАСА. Кроме того, НАСА поставит для проекта космический корабль, который доставит марсоход на околомарсианскую орбиту, а также обеспечит вывод оборудования в космос.
Предполагается, что новый совместный аппарат понесет на себе часть оборудования, запланированного прежде для размещения на американском марсоходе Curiosity. Этот проект должен стартовать уже в текущем году. 900-килограммовый марсоход Curiosity, также называемый Mars Science Laboratory, будет доставлен на Марс и спущен на планету при помощи специального "космического крана", который обеспечит для Curiosity плавный вход в марсианскую атмосферу и мягкую посадку на планету.
В НАСА и ЕКА говорят, что принципиальное согласие по созданию объединенного марсохода уже достигнуто, поэтому если с финансовой точки зрения у партнеров больше не возникнет сложностей, то проект начнут готовить без дальнейших пересмотров.
В ЕКА рассказали, что даже несмотря на бюджетные сокращения, на новом марсоходе будут все инструменты, необходимые для поиска следов присутствия жизни на Марсе, а также для полноценного бурения и химико-биологического анализа грунта планеты.
Напомним, что в прошлом месяце влиятельная группа американских ученых и специалистов космической отрасли опубликовала открытое письмо, в котором назвало прежний американский проект необоснованно дорогим и цену в 3,5 млрд долларов для США они назвали неподъемной, заявив, что стоимость проекта НАСА можно срезать как минимум на 1 млрд долларов. Европейское космическое агентство сейчас также находится под финансовым прессом и любые заявления о затратности программ мгновенно подхватываются странами-участниками ЕКА и ведомство вынуждено экономить.
Последние сверки проектов выявили, что готовность марсоходов ExoMars и Max-C находятся на разной стадии готовности. Если у Европы аппарат был практически готов, его нужно было лишь собрать, то американская разработка находилась в состоянии незавершенного концепта. Поэтому объединенный зонд было решено строить на базе ExoMars. Сейчас в НАСА и ЕКА говорят, что в случае совместного зонда, они вполне укладываются в обозначенный ранее таймлайн.
http://www.itar-tass.com/level2.html?NewsID=16139453&PageNum=0
ЦитироватьЕКА рассматривает возможность использования опыта России в проекте "ЭкзоМарс"[/size]
11.04.2011, 14.16
МОСКВА, 11 апреля. /ИТАР-ТАСС/. Европейское космическое агентство /ЕКА/ рассматривает возможность использования российского опыта создания ядерных энергетических установок в проекте "ЭкзоМарс". Об этом заявил сегодня журналистам глава ЕКА Жан-Жак Дурден.
Он принимает участие в приеме, который организовал Роскосмос для глав космических агентств зарубежных стран и космонавтов в связи с отмечаемым 12 апреля полетом в космос Юрия Гагарина.
Отвечая на вопрос ИТАР-ТАСС, намерено ли ЕКА сотрудничать с Россией в деле создания ядерной энергетической установки для перспективных космических систем, Дурден сказал: "ЕКА пока не намерено сотрудничать с Россией в деле создания такой установки. Однако, мы рассматриваем возможность использования российского опыта и технологий по созданию ядерно-энергетических генераторов в проекте "ЭкзоМарс".
ЕКА ведет переговоры по согласованию исследовательских марсианских программ, в частности, по объединению проектов "Марс-NET" и "ЭкзоМарс" по десантированию на поверхность Красной планеты большого марсохода. Российский и европейский аппараты могут быть вместе выведены в космос одним запуском ракеты-носителя - "Протон".
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110418-single-rover-mars-mission-2018.html
ЦитироватьMon, 18 April, 2011
U.S., Europe Plan Single-rover Mars Mission for 2018[/size]
By Amy Svitak
WASHINGTON — NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will scale back plans to send a pair of rovers to Mars in 2018 and instead build a single vehicle that would drill into the red planet's surface and store soil samples for eventual return to Earth, according to NASA officials.
Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division in NASA's Science Mission Directorate here, said the agency could contribute roughly $1.2 billion to the mission while also covering the cost to launch the craft.
Speaking to members of the NASA Advisory Council's planetary science subcommittee April 18, Green said ESA member states are expected to decide by late May whether or not to proceed with the basic architecture concept, which would combine science objectives planned for NASA's Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C) with Europe's ExoMars rover, both of which were slated to launch in 2018.
"Our merged rover's design leverages both partners' goals and capabilities and assets," Green told the subcommittee, adding that NASA would remain focused on developing a caching system capable of collecting soil samples from the martian surface, a top priority in the U.S. National Research Council's most recent 10-year survey of planetary science goals released in March.
Although the survey listed a robotic sample-return mission to Mars as its top priority, it recommended that NASA pursue the estimated $3.5 billion MAX-C rover only if the price-tag could be reduced to $2.5 billion, an amount NASA says is still too steep for a planetary science budget that is expected to decline in the coming years.
With the U.S. contribution to the joint campaign expected to be around $1 billion, the two sides returned to the drawing board in early April. As a result, Green said, "a number of things were decided that will enable us to bring the costs down significantly that were suggested in the decadal," including the option of achieving U.S. and European science objectives with a single rover.
Green said a joint engineering working group established April 6 is drafting a technical solution to the joint mission objectives given NASA's funding constraints. In addition, a joint science team is being formed to establish mission objectives and requirements for the 2018 campaign.
Doug McCuistion, who heads NASA's Mars exploration program, emphasized that the two sides are still sorting out who brings what to the table. However, he told the subcommittee that NASA would provide the rover's descent stage, based on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission slated to launch to the red planet later this year, while ESA would likely develop a drill that was originally slated to fly on Europe's ExoMars rover.
"We're going to look and see what the best combination of capabilities and assets are and how we go about building a joint rover," McCuistion said. "It's not going to look like ExoMars, it's not going to look like MSL; it's going to be something new."
SN: ESA Halts ExoMars Orbiter Work To Rethink Red Planet Plans with NASA[/size] (http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110425-esa-halts-exomars-orbiter.html)
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/awst/2011/06/06/AW_06_06_2011_p30-330685.xml&headline=Funding%20Stymies%20European-U.S.%20Mars%20Mission
ЦитироватьFunding Stymies European-U.S. Mars Mission[/size]
Jun 7, 2011
By Amy Svitak
Washington
(http://www.aviationweek.com/media/images/space_images/ESA/ExoMarsOrbiterAndLandingModule-ESA.jpg)
European industry cost estimates are putting pressure on the ExoMars program while NASA budget cuts are forcing a redesign of key elements of the flagship U.S.-European cooperative space project.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is negotiating €200 million ($287 million) in hardware cost reductions with European contractors supporting a multibillion-euro ESA-NASA mission that would send robotic science probes and terrestrial rovers in search of life on Mars by the end of the decade.
As part of an effort to impose a €1 billion cost cap on Europe's commitment to ExoMars, ESA set a €575 million ceiling on industry hardware development. The agency also identified specific pots of money for each element of the two-pronged mission, which would send a methane-detecting satellite and technology demonstrator to Mars in 2016, followed in 2018 by a surface rover capable of drilling and caching soil samples for eventual return to Earth.
However, according to an April summary of the ExoMars program status, cost estimates presented by a European industry consortium led by prime contractor Thales Alenia Space Italy came in "significantly above target."
ESA's hardware development cost targets include: €280 million for the ESA-led mission in 2016, which comprises the methane-sniffing ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and a small Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM) capable of monitoring mission-critical systems; and €240 million for the ExoMars rover, Europe's contribution to the NASA-led 2018 mission designed to drill beneath the Martian surface.
However, ESA says the overall cost needs to be reduced by €250 million, according to the summary, which indicates ESA is negotiating revised cost estimates in an effort to glean €100 million in savings from the program's largest industry partners. Thales Alenia Space Italy is building the EDM, Thales Alenia Space France is developing the Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft and Astrium U.K. is designing the 2018 ExoMars rover. Another €100 million in cost savings could be achieved by taking a similar approach with subcontractors supporting the primes. ESA could also lower overall program costs by shifting €50 million in management fees to help pay for hardware development, the summary says.
ESA's effort to impose the €1 billion cost cap coincides with NASA's decision to reduce its planned $2.2 billion ExoMars contribution by roughly $700 million in response to the Obama administration's proposal to lower the space agency's planetary science budget in a 2012 spending plan sent to Congress in February. As a result, the agencies are now focused on keeping hardware development for the 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter mission on track while redesigning the 2018 rovers mission.
Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, says ESA and NASA tentatively decided in March to cut costs by combining the primary science goals of the 2018 mission, meshing NASA's MAX-C Explorer/Cacher drone and ESA's drill-equipped ExoMars rover into a single vehicle capable of carrying out mission objectives critical to both.
"We've had an engineering working group and a science team hot at this since the beginning of April," McCuistion notes, adding that ESA and NASA expect to devise a revamped architecture for the 2018 mission by year-end. "Then we'll look through all the elements of that rover and say, 'Here's how we need to divide this up, what each group can provide based on things like technical expertise and budget and schedule.'"
The joint science and engineering teams will have their work cut out for them as they return to the drawing board this summer. McCuistion points out, though, that some elements of the proposed single-rover design are preordained, including a plan to make the most of propulsion and descent capabilities built for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, a truck-sized rover that is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral AFS in November.
"NASA will be utilizing build-to-print MSL systems, so the cruise stage and the descent stage will essentially be copies of what we'll be flying for MSL," McCuistion says, adding that even though the revamped 2018 architecture is to be based on ESA's ExoMars rover design, considerable changes are needed to make it compatible with MSL's landing system, which requires that the rover land on its wheels rather than on a platform, as envisioned under the original dual-rover plan.
In the meantime, ESA and NASA are pressing ahead with implementation plans for the Trace Gas Orbiter. Development of the spacecraft's five science instruments, which will perform remote observations of the Martian atmosphere to detect methane and other gases that could signal past or present life, is well under way. NASA is responsible for four sensors and ESA is contributing the fifth.
In addition, ESA expects this month to announce winning proposals for a sensor and instrumentation suite to be hosted on the EDM vehicle, a technology demonstrator designed to prove European industry's ability to perform a controlled landing on the surface of Mars while monitoring key mission technologies, including thermal protection, parachute and liquid-propulsion braking systems.
ESA allowed ExoMars funding to lapse in April, however, while the agency evaluated the impact of NASA's funding shortfall. Since then, an ESA policy-making body—dubbed the Program Board for Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration, which oversees ExoMars—approved the single-rover concept for 2018, green-lighting ESA's plan to implement the manufacturing phase of the Trace Gas Orbiter and EDM hardware this summer.
"They were just given authority last week to go ahead with the industry contracts and they plan on that for July," McCuistion says, adding that as ESA completes contract negotiations with industry for the manufacturing and test phase of the ExoMars program in the coming weeks, the Trace Gas Orbiter mission is expected to remain on track.
"For 2016, we're getting close enough that we certainly wouldn't want to wait" much longer to initiate hardware production, he says.
ESA Concept
ESA и NASA анонсировали программу научных исследований запланированных на борту посадочного демонстратора миссии ExoMars 2016. Зонд исследует атмосферу на этапе снижения и впервые проведет измерения электрических полей на поверхности Марса. Также запланированы сеансы метеоизмерений и цветная съемка поверхности (в течении 2-4 суток).
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMLEFRHPOG_index_0.html
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110622-esa-press-ahead-exomars.html
ЦитироватьWed, 22 June, 2011
Despite French Objections, ESA Seeks To Press Ahead on ExoMars[/size]
By Peter B. de Selding
LE BOURGET, France — The European Space Agency (ESA) will proceed with a June 29-30 vote on a two-part Mars exploration plan with NASA despite likely French opposition because any delay would risk missing a key launch date, ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain said June 22.
Dordain said ESA's ExoMars contractors must begin work on a Mars orbiter, set for launch in 2016 aboard a NASA-provided Atlas 5 rocket, in July if they are to complete work in time to meet that schedule.
The orbiter will provide a crucial telecommunications relay function for the second ESA-NASA ExoMars mission, a jointly developed rover whose design and work-share distribution are yet to be determined, slated for launch in 2018.
That uncertainty has caused the French space agency, CNES, to call for a delay in approving full funding for ExoMars until a clearer picture develops of how much the NASA-ESA rover will cost.
CNES President Yannick d'Escatha said June 21 that France's priority is the 2018 rover mission, and that the doubts about this mission's contours under NASA-ESA management argue for an increased budget.
With ESA's share of the two-part ExoMars mission budget capped at 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion), d'Escatha suggested that the 2016 mission should be scaled back, with the savings directed to preserving the scientific value of the 2018 mission.
France voted against a late-May ESA committee agreement to sign off on the ExoMars mission with NASA despite the many unknowns about the rover cooperation. A majority of ESA members agreed that delaying the start on the 2016 mission any further would raise the threat that mission, which includes an entry, descent and landing demonstration package, would be late on arrival and miss the 2016 launch date.
In a June 22 interview, Dordain agreed with this assessment. He said ESA is proceeding with plans to ask its Industrial Policy Committee, which is the final step to approving agency funding, to clear the ExoMars funds when it meets June 29-30.
The Industrial Policy Committee operates by simple majority, Dordain said, meaning it does not need French approval to OK the budget for ExoMars.
"I fully understand the French position," Dordain said. "But industry has told me I have already wasted three months and cannot wait to approve funding for the 2016 mission beyond July 1. If I delay agreeing to ExoMars financing until questions about the rover are settled, industry could later tell me I am responsible for their missing the 2016 launch window. I do not want this."
Dordain said that what the Industrial Policy Committee can do to assuage the concerns of France, and of any other nation worried that the 2018 mission may evolve in unacceptable ways, is to slow-drip funds for the 2018 mission through a series of limited-liability contracts and authorizations to proceed.
Dordain said that for the Industrial Policy Committee to decide ExoMars, ESA first needs a letter from NASA attesting to the U.S. agency's commitment to the 2018 rover mission. That letter is expected by June 28.
With that letter in hand, Dordain said, he will ask the Industrial Policy Committee to approve ExoMars funding, with full metal-cutting financing for the 2016 but a slower disbursement of funding for 2018.
Dordain also said there may be a possibility of reducing the size of the 2016 mission's 600-kilogram entry, descent and landing package to save money, with the savings going to the 2018 mission.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/17596.jpg)
Извращенцы. Через попу, но зато посвоему.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110630-esa-defer-work-mars-orbiter.html
ЦитироватьThu, 30 June, 2011
ESA Forced To Defer Full-scale Work on 2016 Mars Orbiter[/size]
By Peter B. de Selding
PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) on June 30 withdrew its proposal to begin full-scale work on a 2016 Mars orbiter mission with NASA following receipt of a letter from NASA's administrator saying the U.S. agency could not commit to a companion 2018 Mars rover mission, a senior ESA official said June 30.
The decision by ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain to remove the ExoMars contract decision from the agenda of ESA's Industrial Policy Committee, which met June 29-30, illustrates the continued instability of the joint ESA-NASA Mars exploration program that in principle was decided two years ago.
Briefing reporters here, Eric Morel de Westgaver, ESA's director for procurement, financial operations and legal affairs, said ESA coupled its decision not to approve the full contract for the 2016 telecommunications relay orbiter with an agreement to fund just enough work on it so as to be able to throttle up to full contract work soon enough to make the 2016 launch date.
ESA will begin immediate negotiations with Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy, the prime contractor for the ExoMars orbiter, to determine the minimum payments needed right away to keep the orbiter on track for the 2016 launch date, Morel de Westgaver said. "No irreversible paths" were taken at the meeting of the Industrial Policy Committee (IPC), he said.
ESA, he said, has authority under an existing ExoMars contract to direct limited monies for another couple of months. He declined to disclose the maximum budget authorization the agency has at its disposal.
At ESA, both the 2016 telecommunications orbiter — with its trace-gas sensor and an entry, descent and landing demonstration package — and the 2018 rover are considered a single mission called ExoMars, which is budgeted at 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion). In the contracting sense, the 2016 mission cannot be given full go-ahead funding until issues surrounding the 2018 mission are resolved.
Those issues are several. ESA and NASA since this spring have been working on a joint rover mission for 2018 following NASA's announcement that its budget does not permit it to provide a separate U.S.-built rover to be launched alongside ESA's rover.
A joint rover is being designed, but an exact determination of which side will provide what elements will not be made until this fall. That has led some of ESA's ExoMars contributing nations, notably France and Britain, to ask that the 2016 mission be put on hold, or cut back, to preserve the maximum amount of resources for the 2018 rover launch. The U.K. Space Agency in particular had expressed its desire that its ExoMars contribution not be used to place British industry in a junior partner's position relative to U.S. industry for a rover that, until recently, was supposed to be built in Britain.
ESA officials have said they cannot put 2016 on hold without raising the risk that the mission will not be ready for a 2016 launch. Both Dordain and ESA Science Director Alvaro Gimenez said in separate interviews the week of June 22 that Thales Alenia Space needed to get cracking on the 2016 orbiter immediately, especially given the program delays since April as ESA has digested NASA's abandonment of a U.S.-built rover for 2018.
Dordain had said that the urgency of moving full-speed ahead on the 2016 mission was such that he would, if necessary, use ESA's procedures at the IPC meeting to force ExoMars through to contractual authority by a simple majority vote.
But Dordain said he could not take that step if he had not received a letter from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden reaffirming NASA's commitment to the 2018 by the time the IPC debated ExoMars.
That letter arrived late June 29 Central European Time, Morel de Westgaver said. In it, he said, Bolden says NASA will do its utmost to be able to be able to commit to the 2018 mission by Sept. 15, when it presumably will have more clarity about its budget prospects.
The IPC will meet Sept. 29-30 to take up the issue again, Morel de Westgaver said. [/size]
а на человеческом языке вкратце?
Если вкратце, то будут делать обрезание. Гугль Вам в помощь.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/awst/2011/08/01/AW_08_01_2011_p43-350317.xml&headline=Europe%20Could%20Downsize%20Mars%202016%20Mission&next=0
ЦитироватьEurope Could Downsize Mars 2016 Mission[/size]
Aug 3, 2011
By Amy Svitak
Paris
The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering a plan to scale back or eliminate the entry, descent and landing element of a robotic science mission to Mars in 2016, a cost-saving measure that could bolster a more ambitious joint U.S.-European rover mission to the red planet two years later.
Alvaro Gimenez, ESA's director of science and robotic exploration, says Europe could save about €120 million ($174 million) if the 19-member space agency immediately abandons development of its ExoMars Entry, Descent and Landing Module (EDL), a testbed designed to demonstrate Europe's mastery of lander technology. Slated to launch in 2016, EDL is designed to be carried aboard a telecommunications satellite equipped with a methane-sniffing trace-gas sensor and a data relay capability indispensible to a subsequent ExoMars mission planned for 2018.
Of the €345 million in industrial costs ESA has budgeted for the 2016 ExoMars mission, "about €120 million could be saved" if the agency opts to scrap the 600-kg (1323-lb.) EDL tech demo, Gimenez says, though the decision to do so would need to be reached soon.
"If we wait until next year, the savings would be half," he says, adding that ESA's ExoMars industry team, lead by Thales Alenia Space of Italy and France are already working on the EDL and Mars Trace Gas Orbiter in preparation for launch in early 2016. Gimenez expects to present a range of options—including the possibility of scrapping the EDL—to ESA's human spaceflight, microgravity and exploration program board in September.
"If they tell me to [scrap] it, I'll do it, but we have to move now," he says. "If we miss the opportunity of 2016, we have a problem. I cannot keep industry around playing cards and being paid by us."
The European work is a key step in the emerging joint NASA/ESA Mars Exploration program, which ultimately hopes to return samples of Martian soil and rocks to Earth for detailed analysis. Current plans—which face funding uncertainty on both sides of the Atlantic—call for a joint rover mission in 2018 to collect and cache material for a sample-return lander to be launched later.
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), set for launch as early as Nov. 25 (see p. 38 ), is designed to help scientists home in on the types of rocks they want to study first-hand. While carrying sophisticated instruments for in situ chemical analysis of material it collects robotically, the MSL will not be able to match detailed work done by human scientists.
"There's a big difference between taking a rock and grinding it up and doing a measurement on it, compared to picking a rock apart and taking each of the little mineral grains and analyzing them," says Michael Meyer, lead scientist in NASA's Mars Exploration program. "It's almost like getting a book and you shuffle the pages and try to figure out what the story is, versus you actually look at them in sequence. There are a lot of things that you can't do unless you handle the sample—thin sections, electron microscopy."
With a decision on the way forward unlikely before fall, ESA's industrial partners have slowed work on the 2016 EDL and Mars Trace Orbiter to a trickle, though ESA Project Manager Thomas Passvogel says the effort is still funded under an earlier contractual arrangement.
Scaling back or nixing the EDL would require ExoMars program managers to rearrange workshares among industrial partners, including Italy and France, which are leading EDL development.
In June, Yannick d'Escatha, head of the French space agency CNES, said France would prefer to abandon the EDL in favor of fortifying the 2018 mission with additional funds.
"Because the 2018 mission is a priority, it needs to be protected," d'Escatha said in June. "We need to be absolutely sure that the 2018 mission will exist" with Europe's key scientific priorities for the ExoMars rover intact.
Gimenez says Europe has budgeted €1 billion for ExoMars overall, including €605 million in industrial contracts for both the 2016 and 2018 missions. However, member nations have committed just €850 million to date. The remaining €150 million needed to ensure operations and data analysis following launch is currently in flux.
"The members will only subscribe the €150 million at the ministerial meeting in 2012," Gimenez says, referring to a late 2012 meeting of ESA ministers that will set the agency's multiyear budget. "We are not going to launch something that we are not going to operate afterward. So that amount is needed. If our member states are not able to put [up] their part of the €150 million, the others will have to react, increase their percentage or we have to descope because of that."
Of the program's two largest contributors—Italy and the U.K.—only the latter has committed to fund some part of the remaining €150 million. Italy, Gimenez says, is still an unknown.
"If they cannot put in their subscription, then we may have a problem," he notes.
In addition, Gimenez argues that scrapping EDL would mean forfeiting an opportunity to demonstrate European autonomy in key technologies needed for future visits to Mars.
"It is a technology demonstration that is a complicated one, but Europe wanted to have the capability of landing by ourselves, despite the fact that we are going to land with NASA in 2018. I think it's good not to give up that technology if we are serious about exploration in the future."
Still, Gimenez says the savings could be applied to the NASA-led ExoMars mission in 2018, which is already undergoing a complete design overhaul in the face of mounting budget pressure in Washington. Designed to send an ESA rover with a drill and a science payload alongside a NASA drone equipped with a soil cacher to the red planet, the mission was scrapped in March when NASA said budget cuts would force the agency to reduce its planned $2.2 billion contribution by about $700 million.
Both sides have since returned to the drawing board and are developing a plan to combine the two rovers into a single, larger vehicle compatible with the so-called "sky crane" landing system NASA developed for its MSL, a car-sized rover slated to launch to the planet in November.
"Given budget constraints facing both agencies, NASA and ESA have been in discussions on revised plans for the implementation of the Mars 2016 and 2018 missions," NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs says. "We hope that by the September timeframe, we'll be in position to move forward with a plan for the successful implementation of both missions."
Gimenez says NASA's financial contribution as the lead agency for the 2018 mission is critical to ESA's efforts to continue work on the 2016 mission.
"We cannot go ahead for the 2016 mission if we are not totally sure about 2018. If there is no commitment from NASA then we will not proceed with the industrial development for 2016," he says.
However, Gimenez says that in addition to cost-savings in Europe, scaling back or scrapping the EDL could reduce NASA's launch costs.
"We could have a lighter one or we could have no lander, and that of course affects very easily the cost of the launcher for NASA," he says. "Of course it has to be a significant decrease in the weight, but it's clear if we decrease the weight we decrease the cost to them. It's heavy stuff."
In addition to demonstrating European entry, descent and landing technologies, the EDL is designed to conduct some limited science investigations during its four-day mission on the Martian surface. In June ESA and NASA selected scientific investigations that will probe the atmosphere during the lander's descent stage and return data for the first time analyzing electrical fields on Mars.
During the descent phase, two proposed investigations would use the lander's entry, descent and landing engineering data to reconstruct its trajectory and determine the atmospheric conditions.
The EDL would also be expected to make use of a color camera system that would provide additional scientific data and images of the Martian surface, though a decision on the camera's design is not expected by year-end, ESA says.
The Mars Trace Gas Orbiter, in addition to serving as a data relay capability for the 2018 ExoMars rover, will investigate methane and other atmospheric gases present in small concentrations around Mars, focusing on those that could offer clues as to the existence of life there. The orbiter's scientific instruments, drawn from broad international participation in the effort, will include an infrared radiometer to detect chemicals, dust and any water vapor in the Martian atmosphere, along with spectrometers capable of detecting elements at trace levels, ESA says. Cameras, including stereo and wide-angle, multispectral imagers, will provide pictures of the planet's surface and support other instruments.
As technical experts at NASA and ESA redesign the 2018 ExoMars mission, the two sides expect to present initial designs to the program board in September. Both are expected to settle on a final configuration that meshes NASA's MAX-C Explorer/Cacher drone and ESA's drill-equipped rover, following completion of a number of intensive technical studies later this year.
The agencies will then divvy up workshare for the mission. NASA is expected to contribute the launch vehicle, cruise stage, sky-crane landing system and caching payload. ESA, which is expected to lead development of the rover, would modify current designs to incorporate NASA's soil-caching capability, making it compatible with the MSL landing system, which requires that the rover land on its wheels rather than on a platform, as envisioned under the original dual-rover plan.[/size]
В NASA заявили своим коллегам из ESA, что не смогут обеспечить носитель Atlas 5 (даже в минимальной конфигурации) для запуска миссии к Марсу в 2016.
Болден (NASA) и Дордэн (ESA) 3 октября, в Южной Африке, должны определиться с одним из двух сценариев:
- совместный запуск в 2018 ровера и телекоммуникационного ретранслятора с использованием расширенной версии перелетного модуля.
- сохранение миссии 2016 года, несмотря на неопределенности с носителем.
В первом случае возникают вопросы по массе КА, оцениваемой в 3600 кг без ретранслятора, что близко к предельной выводимой Атласом на заданную орбиту.
Во втором случае возможны только два варианта:
- запуск на Ariane 5, что маловероятно, т.к. будет стоить более $150 млн., а бюджет миссии и так "трещит по швам".
- запуск на Протоне по бартеру с Роскосмосом (условия бартера неизвестны).
Результаты встречи будут представлены 12-13 октября на рассмотрение стран-участниц ЕКА.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110930-nasa-cant-launch-exomars-orbiter.html
А сколько Протон-М выводит на отлетную к Марсу, интересно?
ЦитироватьА сколько Протон-М выводит на отлетную к Марсу, интересно?
С современными РБ 5,5 тонн и более.
По Марсу-96:
стартовая масса: 6825 кг
масса АМС на межпланетной траектории: 5678.5 кг
сухая масса АМС: 3780 кг
Слышал, что европейцы отказались от канадского марсохода в пользу России. Это правда? И кто его будет делать?