Author Topic: ESA/NASA? - ExoMars 2028? (Rover + Surface Platform)  (Read 183352 times)

Offline Star One

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That's good. Marsy McDrillFace has a much nicer ring to it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Johnimus_Prime/status/1020350502503092224

Offline Blackstar

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Are Americans allowed to make suggestions?  Their list for country of residence is all Europe...plus Canada...but not the United States.

No.

Quote
5. Eligibility
5.1 The competition is only open to individuals resident in a Member State of the European Space Agency and associate members (see 5.2 below), except:
(a) the judging panel (in 4.1 and 4.3 above); and
(b) members of the immediate families or households of (a) above.
5.2 The Member States and associate members of the European Space Agency are: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
From https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/exomars-rover-naming-competition-terms-and-conditions

Technically, if you are an American who is a "resident" of one of those countries, you qualify.
« Last Edit: 07/21/2018 06:25 am by Blackstar »

Offline SciNews

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Roscosmos: Срок запуска миссии определён. Старт состоится 25 июля 2020 года.
Google translation "The mission start time is defined. The launch will take place on July 25, 2020."
https://www.roscosmos.ru/25367/

Offline AlexA

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ExoMars 2018 Surface Platform Experiment Proposal Information Package published by ESA here:
http://exploration.esa.int/mars/55699-exomars-2018-surface-platform-experiment-proposal-information-package/

No detail on the actual instruments though.



Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Offline bolun

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Oxia Planum favoured for ExoMars surface mission

Landing site selected for UK Mars rover

Oxia Planum texture map

One example of how the Oxia Planum landing site candidate for the ExoMars 2020 mission is being analysed. The map outlines a boundary that encapsulates the range of possible landing ellipses, with some added margin. The colours represent the variety of surface terrains identified, including plains, channels, impact craters and wind-blown features, for example. It is not a geological map intended for scientific analysis, but rather a tool used to identify different surface textures and where potential hazards may lie.

The narrow ellipses with the black outline mark the most likely landing zones for the extreme case of the very beginning and end of the launch window respectively (the launch dictates the arrival inclination and there are other scenarios in between). The central touchdown point in Oxia Planum is the same regardless of the actual launch date in the 25 July–13 August 2020 launch window.

The background image is from the Thermal Emission Imaging System instrument on NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter.

https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/11/Oxia_Planum_texture_map

Image credit: IRSPS/TAS; NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University
« Last Edit: 11/11/2018 06:55 pm by bolun »

Offline bolun

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How big is the ExoMars 2020 mission?

Sizes of key components of the ExoMars 2020 mission. The parachutes that will help slow the descent module through the martian atmosphere are compared in size to the iconic landmark of Big Ben, in London, UK.  The descent module, which will deliver the surface platform and rover to the martian surface, is compared with the height of a human. The rover is stowed inside the surface platform, and will drive off one of the two ramps that will be deployed after landing.

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, which launched in 2016 and is already in orbit around Mars analysing its atmosphere, is also included in this graphic. It will relay data from the rover mission back to Earth.

https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/11/How_big_is_the_ExoMars_2020_mission

Image credit: ESA

Offline redliox

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I see why there's a fuss about testing parachutes that huge and likewise developing retropropulsion.  Those parachutes are ridiculously huge; fact they're achievable a testament of textile technology.
"Let the trails lead where they may, I will follow."
-Tigatron

Offline mcgyver

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Are future manned missions supposed to make use of parachutes too, or will they rely on retrorocket right after exiting from high temperature phase?

Offline SciNews

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ESA/Euronews: Looking for life on Mars with ExoMars

Offline bolun

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ExoFitness

The sun set on a week of trials for the ExoMars rover prototype named Charlie (in the foreground). The first of two field trials for the mission, known as ExoFiT, took place in the Tabernas desert in Spain between 13-26 October.

While Charlie was located in Spain, mission operators and instrument scientists were based over 1000 km away at mission control in Harwell, UK, near ESA’s ECSAT centre where ExoFit was managed. The distance was crucial as teams operating a rover on the Martian surface must contend with infrequent communication possibilities and must run science operations with what little information they have. The rover itself is designed to carry out activities such as a traverse or observations in between communication blackouts as well as send data to Earth in preparation for the next martian day.

During the 10-day trial, the team practised driving the rover off its landing platform (in the background of this image), targeting sites of interest, and sampling rocks. Decisions were made based on data transmitted by the rover together with maps of the terrain. 

Naturally, the team encountered technical difficulties, to be expected in real test conditions. Rainfall disrupted events and forced the team to adapt and optimise their time. In the second week, the team managed to finish activities scheduled for two martian days in a single day.

The scenarios in general tested the rover’s radar instrument, close-up imager, panoramic mast imager and drill, with more specific tests aimed at replicating what will be performed on the martian surface. Once on the Red Planet, the rover drill beneath the surface to look for signs of life.

A lot is learned during these simulation studies to fine-tune equipment and train mission specialists. The issues encountered in the field trial will be addressed and tested again in a second field campaign introducing more complex autonomous rover operations.

Set for February 2019, the second field trial will take place in the Atacama desert of Chile. Atacama is one of the most similar terrains on Earth to Mars, with the added benefit of drier weather and the nearby European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory over the Tabernas desert.

The operational challenges observed provide valuable inputs for the ExoMars rover and other planetary rovers such as the Sample Fetch Rover of the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return mission. Currently in the concept phase, ESA is working with international partners to achieve its vision of Europe’s expanding role in space exploration.

https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/11/ExoFitness

Image credit: ESA / Airbus

Offline redliox

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ESA's rover progress is pleasing, but I'd be more interested in knowing how Russia's platform is progressing.  Without it the rover can't land safely after all.
"Let the trails lead where they may, I will follow."
-Tigatron

Offline bolun

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Mars parachute testing

Testing a candidate design for a subsonic parachute to slow a future mission to Mars inside Canada’s National Research Council wind tunnel, in Ottawa.

Mars has a thin but substantial atmosphere, which is both a hindrance and a help to mission designers. Protective heat shields must be flown to protect any spacecraft making atmospheric entry but parachutes are then able to slow down and stabilise their descent.

Up until now single parachutes have been employed for Mars missions, but in future a double parachute system offers a way to deliver a greater payload to the surface with enhanced trajectory control. A smaller, supersonic parachute for initial deceleration would be supplemented by a larger subsonic parachute for the descent phase.

UK company Vorticity Systems has performed testing on a range of subsonic parachute shapes for Mars missions with support from ESA’s Technology Development Element.

Testing made use of a drone, a helicopter and low- and high-altitude balloons as well as the 9 x 9 m Canadian wind tunnel pictured, plus a smaller 2 x 3 m wind tunnel at the same site – in combination with high-fidelity software simulations.

One test even seeded the air around a parachute with tiny droplets of olive oil, which were laser-scanned to better view their flow pattern.

“This was a very challenging project involving many tests at different facilities,” comments Luca Ferracina, overseeing the work for ESA.

“We collected an enormous amount of data to help us to better understand the behaviour and performance of many parachute types. This information will be key to designing future parachutes for Mars along with other planets such as Venus, Neptune and Uranus.”

https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2019/01/Mars_parachute_testing

Image credit: Vorticity Systems

Offline bolun

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ExoTeR rover

A half-scale version of the ExoMars rover, called ExoMars Testing Rover (ExoTeR), seen manoeuvring itself carefully through the red rocks and sand of 9x9 m Planetary Utilisation Testbed, part of ESA’s Planetary Robotics Laboratory in its ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands, as a test of autonomous navigation software destined for ESA’s ExoMars 2020 mission to the Red Planet.

Related article: ExoMars software passes ESA Mars Yard driving test

https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2019/01/ExoTeR_rover

Image credit:  ESA–G. Porter

Offline Svetoslav

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Hello,

Yesterday Roscosmos published an interview with Lavochkin's director Kolmykov. It's available here:

https://www.roscosmos.ru/25966/

And there's quite a detailed photo of ExoMars 2020 lander
« Last Edit: 02/01/2019 09:53 am by Svetoslav »

Offline eeergo

https://twitter.com/ESA_ExoMars/status/1093463675510407169

ExoMars 2020 christened "Rosalind Franklin".
« Last Edit: 02/07/2019 10:01 am by eeergo »
-DaviD-

Offline jacqmans

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The European ExoMars rover under construction at Airbus, Stevenage, in the UK.

ExoMars is a joint endeavour between ESA and Roscosmos. The rover is part of the 2020 mission, landing on Mars with a surface science platform in 2021.

The name of the European rover that will explore Mars in 2021 was revealed today at Airbus, Stevenage, UK by Chris Skidmore, UK Science Minister.

The rover is named Rosalind Franklin after prominent scientist behind the discovery of the structure of DNA. The ExoMars rover will be the first of its kind to combine the capability to roam around Mars and to study it at depth, searching for evidence of life buried underground. 

photo credit: ESA-Stephane Corvaja, 2019.
Jacques :-)

Offline Star One

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To all excited about the naming of the
@ESA_ExoMars
 rover Rosalind Franklin: A reminder that "Rosy" was the diminutive, dismissive nickname by which James Watson referred to her in The Double Helix. Calling her namesake "Rosy the rover" would not seem to honor her memory.

https://twitter.com/elakdawalla/status/1093547130264858624?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Offline bolun

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ExoFiT rover in Chile

The ExoFit model of the Rosalind Franklin rover that will be sent to Mars in 2021 scouting the Atacama Desert, in Chile, following commands from mission control in the United Kingdom, over 11 000 km away.

The ExoFiT field campaign simulates ExoMars operations in every key aspect. During the trial, the rover drove from its landing platform and targets sites of interest to sample rocks in the Mars-like landscapes of the Chilean desert.

The team behind the exercise, a mix of scientists and engineers, is simulating all the challenges of a real mission on the Red Planet, including communication delays, local weather conditions and tight deadlines.

The rover is equipped with a set of cameras and proxy instruments, such as a radar, a spectrometer and a drill, to replicate martian operations.

Scientists in the UK must take decisions on the next steps with the little information they have – a combination of the data transmitted by the rover and satellite images of the terrain.

The ExoFiT teams in the UK set the exploration path and activities for the rover, which travels at a speed of two centimeters per second avoiding rocks and overcoming slopes.

ExoFiT stands for ExoMars-like Field Testing, and it is an essential step to improving European robotic operations not only for ExoMars, but also for future missions aiming to return soil from the Red Planet, such as the Mars Sample Return mission.

Related article: Fit for Mars

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2019/02/ExoFiT_rover_in_Chile2

Image credit: Airbus

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