'Life on Mars' lander aims for risky touch down on red planet
The search for life on Mars may take a giant leap on Wednesday when a space lander is due to touch down on the red planet in Europe's first attempt to land a craft there since the Beagle 2's "heroic failure" more than a decade ago.
The disc-shaped 577-kg (1,272 lb) Schiaparelli lander, which will test technologies for a rover due to follow in 2024, is expected to enter Mars's atmosphere at a speed of nearly 21,000 km (13,049 miles) per hour at 1442 GMT.
It will use a parachute and thrusters to slow down before touching down on the planet's surface only six minutes later.
The lander is named for Giovanni Schiaparelli, the Italian astronomer who in 1877 began mapping the topography of Mars, extending study of what are now known as the planet's canals, a mistranslation of the Italian word canali, or channels.
Schiaparelli is part of the European-Russian ExoMars program, which will search for signs of past and present life on Mars and represents only the second European attempt to land a craft on the red planet, after Britain's Beagle 2 was ejected from the Mars Express spacecraft in 2003 but never made contact after failing to deploy its solar panels upon landing.
The second part of the ExoMars mission, delayed to 2024 from 2024, will deliver a European rover to the surface of Mars. It will be the first with the ability to both move across the planet's surface and drill into the ground to collect and analyze samples.
The ExoMars 2024 mission is led by the European Space Agency (ESA), with Russia's Roscosmos supplying the launcher and two of the four scientific instruments on the trace gas orbiter. The prime contractor is Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (TCFP.PA) and Finmeccanica SIFI.MI.
The cost of the ExoMars mission to ESA, including the second part due in 2024, is expected to be about 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion). Russia's contribution comes on top of that.
At the time it was dubbed "a heroic failure".
Landing on Mars, Earth's neighbor some 35 million miles (56 million km) away, is a notoriously difficult task that has bedeviled most Russian efforts and given NASA trouble as well.
A seemingly hostile environment on Mars has not detracted from its allure, with U.S. President Barack Obama recently highlighting his pledge to send people to the planet by the 2030s.
Elon Musk's SpaceX is developing a massive rocket and capsule to transport large numbers of people and cargo to Mars with the ultimate goal of colonizing the planet, with Musk saying he would like to launch the first crew as early as 2024.
LIFE ON MARS
The primary goal of ExoMars is to find out whether life has ever existed on Mars. The spacecraft on which the Schiaparelli lander traveled to Mars, Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), carries an atmospheric probe to study trace gases such as methane around the planet.
Scientists believe that methane, a chemical that on Earth is strongly tied to life, could stem from micro-organisms that either became extinct millions of years ago and left gas frozen below the planet's surface, or that some methane-producing organisms still survive.
譯文：
尋找火星上的生命可能需要一個巨大的飛躍周三由于空間探測器時降落在這顆紅色星球在歐洲首次嘗試土地工藝由于2號的“英勇失敗”十多年前。
一個圓盤形的577公斤(1272磅)夏著陸器,將測試技術(shù)探測器由于遵循2024年,預計將進入火星大氣層的速度每小時近21000公里(13049英里)1442 GMT。
它將使用一個降落傘和推進器減緩地球表面的接觸下來之前只有6分鐘后。
著陸器的命名是喬凡尼夏1877年意大利天文學家開始映射火星的地形,擴展研究什么是現(xiàn)在被稱為地球的運河,意大利單詞canali誤譯或通道。
夏的一部分European-Russian天外火星計劃,將搜索過去和現(xiàn)在的火星上存在生命的跡象,只代表第二個歐洲工藝試圖降落在這顆紅色星球,之后英國的小獵犬2 2003年被逐出火星快車號宇宙飛船,但從未接觸失敗后部署它的太陽能電池板著陸。
第二個天外火星任務(wù)的一部分,從2024年推遲到2024年,將歐洲火星的火星表面。這將是第一個有能力跨越地球表面和深入地收集和分析樣本。
天外火星2024任務(wù)是由歐洲航天局(ESA)與俄羅斯航天局提供的發(fā)射器和兩個四個科學儀器在微量氣體探測器。泰利斯阿萊尼亞空間主承包商,泰利斯公司的合資公司(TCFP.PA)和Finmeccanica SIFI.MI。
ESA天外火星任務(wù)的成本,包括第二部分由于在2024年,預計約為13億歐元(合14億美元)。俄羅斯的貢獻是最重要的是。
在當時被稱為“英勇失敗”。
登陸火星,地球的鄰居約3500萬英里(5600萬公里),是一個很困難的任務(wù),一直困擾著俄羅斯的大部分努力,NASA的麻煩。
火星上的一個看似充滿敵意的環(huán)境沒有擾亂其吸引力,與美國總統(tǒng)巴拉克?奧巴馬(Barack Obama)最近強調(diào)他承諾給地球人到2030年代。
伊隆麝香SpaceX公司正在開發(fā)一個大規(guī)模的火箭和飛船運送大量的人員和貨物到火星殖民地球的終極目標,麝香說他想早在2024年推出第一個船員。
火星上的生命
天外火星的主要目標是找出火星上是否曾經(jīng)存在生命。夏探測器前往火星的宇宙飛船,微量氣體探測器(TGO),進行大氣探測研究跟蹤全球甲烷等氣體。
科學家認為,甲烷,這種化學物質(zhì)在地球上生活密切相關(guān),可以來源于微生物,數(shù)百萬年前滅絕,冷凍的天然氣地球的表面,或者一些產(chǎn)甲烷生物仍然生存。
The search for life on Mars may take a giant leap on Wednesday when a space lander is due to touch down on the red planet in Europe's first attempt to land a craft there since the Beagle 2's "heroic failure" more than a decade ago.
The disc-shaped 577-kg (1,272 lb) Schiaparelli lander, which will test technologies for a rover due to follow in 2024, is expected to enter Mars's atmosphere at a speed of nearly 21,000 km (13,049 miles) per hour at 1442 GMT.
It will use a parachute and thrusters to slow down before touching down on the planet's surface only six minutes later.
The lander is named for Giovanni Schiaparelli, the Italian astronomer who in 1877 began mapping the topography of Mars, extending study of what are now known as the planet's canals, a mistranslation of the Italian word canali, or channels.
Schiaparelli is part of the European-Russian ExoMars program, which will search for signs of past and present life on Mars and represents only the second European attempt to land a craft on the red planet, after Britain's Beagle 2 was ejected from the Mars Express spacecraft in 2003 but never made contact after failing to deploy its solar panels upon landing.
The second part of the ExoMars mission, delayed to 2024 from 2024, will deliver a European rover to the surface of Mars. It will be the first with the ability to both move across the planet's surface and drill into the ground to collect and analyze samples.
The ExoMars 2024 mission is led by the European Space Agency (ESA), with Russia's Roscosmos supplying the launcher and two of the four scientific instruments on the trace gas orbiter. The prime contractor is Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (TCFP.PA) and Finmeccanica SIFI.MI.
The cost of the ExoMars mission to ESA, including the second part due in 2024, is expected to be about 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion). Russia's contribution comes on top of that.
At the time it was dubbed "a heroic failure".
Landing on Mars, Earth's neighbor some 35 million miles (56 million km) away, is a notoriously difficult task that has bedeviled most Russian efforts and given NASA trouble as well.
A seemingly hostile environment on Mars has not detracted from its allure, with U.S. President Barack Obama recently highlighting his pledge to send people to the planet by the 2030s.
Elon Musk's SpaceX is developing a massive rocket and capsule to transport large numbers of people and cargo to Mars with the ultimate goal of colonizing the planet, with Musk saying he would like to launch the first crew as early as 2024.
LIFE ON MARS
The primary goal of ExoMars is to find out whether life has ever existed on Mars. The spacecraft on which the Schiaparelli lander traveled to Mars, Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), carries an atmospheric probe to study trace gases such as methane around the planet.
Scientists believe that methane, a chemical that on Earth is strongly tied to life, could stem from micro-organisms that either became extinct millions of years ago and left gas frozen below the planet's surface, or that some methane-producing organisms still survive.
譯文：
尋找火星上的生命可能需要一個巨大的飛躍周三由于空間探測器時降落在這顆紅色星球在歐洲首次嘗試土地工藝由于2號的“英勇失敗”十多年前。
一個圓盤形的577公斤(1272磅)夏著陸器,將測試技術(shù)探測器由于遵循2024年,預計將進入火星大氣層的速度每小時近21000公里(13049英里)1442 GMT。
它將使用一個降落傘和推進器減緩地球表面的接觸下來之前只有6分鐘后。
著陸器的命名是喬凡尼夏1877年意大利天文學家開始映射火星的地形,擴展研究什么是現(xiàn)在被稱為地球的運河,意大利單詞canali誤譯或通道。
夏的一部分European-Russian天外火星計劃,將搜索過去和現(xiàn)在的火星上存在生命的跡象,只代表第二個歐洲工藝試圖降落在這顆紅色星球,之后英國的小獵犬2 2003年被逐出火星快車號宇宙飛船,但從未接觸失敗后部署它的太陽能電池板著陸。
第二個天外火星任務(wù)的一部分,從2024年推遲到2024年,將歐洲火星的火星表面。這將是第一個有能力跨越地球表面和深入地收集和分析樣本。
天外火星2024任務(wù)是由歐洲航天局(ESA)與俄羅斯航天局提供的發(fā)射器和兩個四個科學儀器在微量氣體探測器。泰利斯阿萊尼亞空間主承包商,泰利斯公司的合資公司(TCFP.PA)和Finmeccanica SIFI.MI。
ESA天外火星任務(wù)的成本,包括第二部分由于在2024年,預計約為13億歐元(合14億美元)。俄羅斯的貢獻是最重要的是。
在當時被稱為“英勇失敗”。
登陸火星,地球的鄰居約3500萬英里(5600萬公里),是一個很困難的任務(wù),一直困擾著俄羅斯的大部分努力,NASA的麻煩。
火星上的一個看似充滿敵意的環(huán)境沒有擾亂其吸引力,與美國總統(tǒng)巴拉克?奧巴馬(Barack Obama)最近強調(diào)他承諾給地球人到2030年代。
伊隆麝香SpaceX公司正在開發(fā)一個大規(guī)模的火箭和飛船運送大量的人員和貨物到火星殖民地球的終極目標,麝香說他想早在2024年推出第一個船員。
火星上的生命
天外火星的主要目標是找出火星上是否曾經(jīng)存在生命。夏探測器前往火星的宇宙飛船,微量氣體探測器(TGO),進行大氣探測研究跟蹤全球甲烷等氣體。
科學家認為,甲烷,這種化學物質(zhì)在地球上生活密切相關(guān),可以來源于微生物,數(shù)百萬年前滅絕,冷凍的天然氣地球的表面,或者一些產(chǎn)甲烷生物仍然生存。
