Identified two possible landing sites of the rover program "Exomarss"

ExoMars (ExoMars) is a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian state corporation Roscosmos, whose main goal is to find evidence of the existence of traces of life on Mars in the past or present. The project consists of two parts, one of them has already been implemented. We are talking about launching two systems to Mars at the same time - the Trace Gas Orbitter (TGO) orbital probe, which studies the atmosphere of Mars and the Schiaparelli module, which was supposed to conduct a study of the planet, going down to its surface. The first stage was only half successful: the orbital probe reached the calculated orbit and began work, but the Schiaparelli was unable to complete its task. An error occurred in determining the height of the apparatus by its computer system. Because of this, the brake engines worked for only three seconds and the device made a free fall from a height of 2-4 kilometers, breaking on the surface of Mars.

As for the second part of the project, its goal is to deliver the Exomarss rover to the surface of Mars. This is a highly automated six-wheel all-terrain vehicle with a mass of 270 kilograms. The toolkit includes a 2-meter subsurface auger, which allows to obtain rock samples from a great depth. In addition, the equipment of the rover includes an analyzer of organic molecules, an infrared spectrometer, an X-ray diffractometer, a soil radar and an infrared spectrometer inside the drill. The other day, ESA reported on the choice of two sites for disembarking the vehicle. After a detailed assessment, scientists will leave only one of them.

Both are located in the northern hemisphere of Mars. This is Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis. According to experts, in these regions there are visible formations on the surface that look like traces of liquid water. Perhaps once upon a time rivers flowed here. None of the sites have yet been surveyed by rovers, and scientists would love to explore all the details of the geological structure of the region. Interestingly, the Mawrth Vallis region was once considered by NASA as a potential landing site for the Curiosity rover. But in the end the Americans decided to choose Gale's crater, the neighborhood of which the rover is studying to this day.
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"Both sites will allow you to explore the history of ancient Mars, they have not been studied by previous missions," said George Vago, scientific director of the mission "Exomars."

Scientists also considered the third region, Aram Dorsum. But after a more thorough study of all three sites, the experts decided to focus on Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis. In the second case, the scientists held a special two-day meeting, in which members of the ExoMars team and representatives of various specialties, who expressed their opinion regarding the initial choice of sites for the landing of the rover, participated.


Photo of Mawrth Vallis, made by Mars Express from the planet's orbit. The plain that can be seen in the center of the image is considered as a potential landing ground for the rover.

“While all three sites discussed provide an excellent opportunity to search for signs of life in the past and data on Mars’s water past, we decided to dwell only on two regions,” Vago said .

Now the task of scientists is a thorough analysis of the remaining sites with their evaluation from both engineering and scientific points of view. This work will allow the landing of the rover in a safe place. Landing ellipse, according to experts, should have a size of 12- * 19 kilometers. The final choice will be made a year before the start of the rover.


Oxia Planum, the second region where rover landing can take place

The mission to find traces of life on Mars is complicated by the fact that there is almost no oxygen on the planet. This chemical element is the most important component of earthly life. There are living organisms that can do without oxygen, for which this element is deadly (especially for obligate anaerobes). But on Earth, aerobic life prevails. Scientists now want to understand what remnants of anaerobic organisms that could live on Mars billions of years ago may look like.


"In the laboratory, we are trying to create conditions close to those that were on ancient Mars, this concerns temperature, the mineral composition of rocks and the atmosphere," the project participants said .

The head of the project also jokes that there will soon be a war between engineers and scientists, since the latter want to land where there are maximum objects of interest to science, and the former are concerned about the successful landing of the device, so opinions about where exactly to land are diverging.