Lift off for Europe and Russia's joint mission to Mars

Satellite's search for methane gas will show whether life existed on the red planet

160314-exo-mars-space.jpg
The Proton rocket that launched the ExoMars into space is moved into position in Kazakhstan
(Image credit: Stephane Corvaja/ESA via Getty Images)

European and Russian space agencies have launched a joint mission to Mars to search for gases that could indicate the existence of life on the Red Planet.

At 3.31pm local time (9.31am GMT), a Proton rocket carrying the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter satellite blasted into the atmosphere from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It is due to reach Mars in October and, after a year getting into the correct orbit, 250 miles above the planet, will spend five years observing the land below.

The probe's delicate scientific instruments will examine the composition of gases in the Martian atmosphere, in particular the methane that the US's Curiosity rover has found present in tiny amounts. On Earth, the vast majority of methane is produced by living organisms. Scientists hope to learn more about how it is apparently produced and replenished on Mars, including the possibility of past or present living organisms on the planet.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Meanwhile, three days after its arrival, the satellite will release a small module, called the Schiaparelli, to land on the planet and carry out scientific experiments.

The successful touchdown of the Schiaparelli is vital to the second stage of the project, which will see the agencies attempt to land a rover on the planet in 2018.

Executing a successful landing has proven the undoing of many previous Mars missions and the trial lander is designed to demonstrate that new technologies – including a descent radar and improved computers – mean a future rover mission would have a greater chance of success.

For Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, the success of this mission would represent an end to a disheartening run of failures, says the BBC. The country has launched 19 missions to Mars since 1960, all but a handful of them outright failures. Its last Mars mission to go according to plan was a flyby and capsule landing in 1973.