Schiaparelli Lander

Schiaparelli Lander ESA

MISSION OVERVIEW:

     Schiaparelli Lander is an technology demonstrator landing module launched by European Space Agency along with ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. ExoMars and Schiaparelli is an joint mission between esa and Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos). It was planned to gather details on Mars atmospheric condition, existence of life and Geologic features. It was made in Italy. It was named in the honor of astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli of 19th century.

LANDER ORIGIN:

     The Schiaparelli lander originated from ESA's aurora Programme which is a goal for human mission to space. The lander was planned by ESA and designed by Italy. Its another name was ExoMars Static Lander.

SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES:

• In search for the existence of life in past and present
• To characterize the geological and Geochemical environment
• To study the environment and identification of hazards for future missions
• To investigate the planets interior and sub-surface for better understanding

MISSION LAUNCH:

     Schiaparelli Lander was launched along with ExoMars Trace gas orbiter on 14th March 2016 at 09:31 GMT. Four rockets were burned and the launch was successful reported by a signal received from the descent module at 21:29 GMT.

LANDER SEPARATION AND LANDING:

     On 16th October 2016, the Trace Gas Orbiter released EDM Lander, and the lander travelled at a speed of 21,000 km/hour. During its travel it spun at the rate of 2.5 Rotation Per Minute. Meridiani Planum was chosen for the landing site on Martian Surface.

MISSION RESULTS:

      Schiaparelli lander attempted an automated landing on 19 October 2016, but the signal was unexpectedly lost a short time before the planned landing time. ESA's Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and MAVEN continued listening for the lander signal to no avail. Lander transmitted about 600 megabytes of telementry data during its landing attempt. However the mission was failure the lander crashed due to error in the Inertial Measurement Unit.