ExoMars Clause Samples

ExoMars. The ExoMars mission, to be launched in 2009, is the first of the major Flagship missions in the Aurora Programme. It includes an orbiter and a descent module that will land a large (200 kg), high-mobility rover on the surface of Mars. After delivery of the lander/rover, the ExoMars orbiter will also operate as a data-relay satellite between the Earth and the vehicle on the Martian surface. The primary objective of the ExoMars rover will be to search for signs of past or present life on the Red Planet. Additional measurements will be made to identify potential surface hazards for future human missions, to determine the distribution of water on Mars and to measure the chemical composition of the surface rocks. The contracts cover the design of the entire ExoMars mission, from launch, through the long interplanetary voyage, to the landing of the rover on the planet’s surface. The second Aurora Flagship mission is a Mars Sample Return mission planned for 2011. Its main goal will be the retrieval of rock samples from the Martian surface and subsurface for subsequent analysis in laboratories on Earth. In order to ensure the success of this challenging mission, a number of new technologies will have to be developed and tested. Conceived as a small technology-driven mission, the Earth re-entry vehicle demonstrator will be used to validate the design of the small Mars sample-return capsule that will bring back the precious samples of Martian soil. The Earth re-entry vehicle demonstrator is expected to be launched in 2007. The baseline mission foresees the insertion into a highly elliptical Earth orbit of a small spacecraft carrying a re-entry capsule. In order to reproduce the final phase of a typical Mars return mission, the capsule will then carry out a ballistic re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of up to 45,000 km/h. Two industrial teams have been selected for the parallel Earth re-entry vehicle demonstrator mission studies. The concept presented by the industrial team, under the leadership of ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇ (France) with the participation of OHB System (Germany) and Plansee (Austria) is solidly based on the experience of past projects. The industrial team led by SSTL (UK) has devised an innovative concept well adapted for a small technology mission. The participation of highly specialised companies, Fluid Gravity Engineering (UK), ▇▇▇▇▇▇ Threde GmbH (D) and Vorticity Ltd. (UK) ensures excellent coverage of the mission’s most critical technologies. The nex...