As the 2016 spacecraft nears completion, mission scientists explain how the ExoMars programme will help in the search for life on Mars.
A joint mission between ESA and Roscosmos, it begins with the launch of the ExoMars orbiter in 2016 and carries an aerodynamically designed capsule containing a robotic lander.
Getting to Mars, landing there safely and searching for life is a huge scientific and technical challenge.
ExoMars 2016 will send back information about the Martian atmosphere and the lander’s findings. These will inform the second part of the mission, in 2018, when a European rover will drill into the Martian surface, up to two metres down.
The rover will be trying to detect traces of organic molecules that indicate the presence of past or present life on Mars. Both A-roll and B-roll contain interview clips from Jorge Vago, ExoMars Project Scientist, ESA (English) and Pietro Baglioni, ExoMars Rover Manager, ESA (English).
It shows ExoMars 2016 nearing construction in its clean room at Thales Alenia Space in France and a prototype ExoMars rover in the ExoMars test yard at ESA’s ESTEC facility in the Netherlands.
