With budget shortfalls threatening a long planned space exploration project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, Russian space agency Roscosmos has stepped in to help search the red planet for signs of life.
On April 10, Roscosmos and the ESA signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the ExoMars project. The project intends to explore for signs of past or present microbiological life on Mars. A formal cooperation agreement solidifying Russia’s full partnership in the project is expected to be signed in November.
Upon news of the agreement, longtime ExoMars project team member Professor John Zarnecki remarked to SpaceExplorationNetwork.com, "It looks like the cavalry has come riding over the horizon to save us, but this time they are dressed in Russian uniforms.”
The project will be conducted in two phases. The first will take place in 2016, when the partner agencies will launch an orbiting satellite that will travel to Mars and search for methane and other trace gasses in the planet’s atmosphere. This will be followed by the launch of a robotic rover in 2018 that will drill beneath the Martian surface in a further hunt for evidence of life.
The withdrawal of NASA means that both partner agencies will have to take over responsibilities once designated to their American counterparts. For the Russian space agency this means it will now be responsible for providing the Proton rocket used to launch the satellites into orbit. Roscosmos will also play a prominent role in delivering the Mars rover vehicle to the planet’s surface and will provide it with an improved radioisotope battery. The Russian produced battery will extend the life of the rover by several months; a huge step forward considering the ESA originally estimated it would only be able to spend a few hours on Mars.
Nearly coinciding with the 50th Cosmonautics Day – an annual holiday celebrated ever year following Yuri Gagarin’s first flight – the success of the ExoMars may herald a new era in a Russian-European space partnership.
Photo Copyright: SENER, ESA - P. Reizi
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