New Planum region where Oxia send the ESA ExoMars rover mission in 2018. (ESA)
The region Oxia Planum has been selected as the main landing place for the mission ExoMars 2018 , according Europa Press . The rover will launch bound for Mars in May 2018 and the arrival is expected in January 2019. The 2018 ExoMars mission will consist of a vehicle capable of exploration and prospecting platform surface and will be the second of two missions that make up the ExoMars , a joint initiative of the ESA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos .
The first mission ExoMars is formed by the Satellite for the Study of trace gases (TGO) and the Demonstrator Input Module , descent and landing, Schiaparelli , and will be launched in March 2016 to enter orbit Mars in autumn next year.
Schiaparelli land in a region known as Meridiani Planum . TGO remain in orbit to study the Martian atmosphere and to relay the data you send the ExoMars 2018 mission from the surface of the planet, reports the ESA .
The search for a place suitable for the landing of the second mission of the program began in December 2013 when proposals were requested scientific community. In October 2014 the Working Group for Landing Site Selection selected four options, which have been studied in detail over the last year to assess the technical implications of the descent and landing on each and the scientific return that could offer.
The main objective of the rover is to look for evidence of life on Mars , past or present, in a region in which abound the water at some point in its history. The vehicle is equipped with an auger that will allow you to extract samples up to two meters deep , which is essential given that the cosmic and solar radiation on the earth’s surface are a very hostile environment for any form of life.
By studying the ground, the mission is more likely to find biosignatures in good condition, reports the NASA . Scientists think they may have life in the area of Mars more than 3,600 million years ago, when conditions were much wetter. Deposits hidden in the basement or recently exhumed sediments offer unique to this important period of the history of Mars window.
The four sites studied -Aram Dorsum, Hypanis Vallis, Mawrth Vallis and Oxia have Planum- Features that indicate that water played an important role at some point in their past, yet are representative of the processes that have been active worldwide. These four candidates offered the opportunity to land in a place of great scientific interest , or less than 1 kilometer from it, and are surrounded by numerous objectives that would be accessible over the cruise 2 kilometers that will perform the rover during the 218-day Mars mission will last.
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