Tag Archives: Roscosmos

Keeping up with ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

On Friday, 17 November, the flight controllers at ESOC began operations to bring the spacecraft into a new phase of the on-going aerobraking campaign, marking the start of ‘shorter’ orbits. ‘Short’ is considered, somewhat arbitrarily, as when the orbital period … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

Trace Gas Orbiter: Crossing Phobos’ orbit while aerobraking

[Editor’s note: See update.] Here are the facts about the Phobos orbit crossing today [November 16]. The orbit crossing is not a Phobos flyby. In fact, we did our best to ensure that Phobos would be at the farthest possible … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

ExoMars aerobraking becomes too severe; shifts automatically to higher orbit

ExoMars has successfully performed a Flux Reduction Manoeuvre (FRM) for the first time. The manoeuvre was triggered by the excessive density of Mars’ atmosphere, which had slowed the spacecraft above the limit the operations team normally allows. The manoeuvre happened … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Trace Gas Orbiter: Clouds over lava flows

Diffuse, water-ice clouds, a hazy sky and a light breeze. Such might have read a weather forecast for the Tharsis volcanic region on Mars on 22 November 2016, when this image was taken by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Clouds, … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

ExoMars TGO: Aerobraking restarts in September

After an approximately 11-week pause due to Mars conjunction and a major software update, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will restart its aerobraking campaign in September. Aerobraking, you’ll recall, is the year-long campaign being conducted by TGO using the … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Trace Gas Orbiter: Aerobraking suspended

On 25 June, the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will suspend its aerobraking campaign until the end of August due to Mars’ conjunction with the Sun. With Mars behind the Sun, TGO’s communication with Earth will be difficult, and so the spacecraft orbit … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Schiaparelli crash investigation finishes

The inquiry into the crash-landing of the ExoMars Schiaparelli module has concluded that conflicting information in the onboard computer caused the descent sequence to end prematurely. The Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing demonstrator module separated from its mothership, the Trace … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

ExoMars: Q & A on Trace Gas Orbiter aerobraking

Meeting Mario Montagna – ExoMars 2016 Avionics Systems Engineer – Exploration & Science Italy Head of Avionics, Data Systems & Communications Design department. The ExoMars 2016 spacecraft was launched by a Proton rocket on March 14, 2016. About seven months … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

ExoMars 2020: To Oxia Planum… or Mawrth Vallis

Two ancient sites on Mars that hosted an abundance of water in the planet’s early history have been recommended as the final candidates for the landing site of the 2020 ExoMars rover and surface science platform: Oxia Planum and Mawrth … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

ExoMars 2020 landing site workshop begins

The 4th ExoMars 2020 Landing Site Selection Workshop will be held on 27 – 28th March 2017 at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, The Netherlands. The two-day workshop will be run by the ExoMars 2020 Landing … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off