ExoMars and ESA's Aurora Exploration Programme

[ToSeek]

European ministers approve the Aurora Exploration Programme and give green light for the ExoMars mission

The ministers from the 17 ESA Member States, gathered on 5 and 6 December in Berlin for an ESA Council Meeting, have decided to go ahead with the core programme of the European Space Exploration programme Aurora and its first robotic exploration mission to Mars, called ExoMars.

Aurora, which is an optional programme of the Agency, i.e. Member States are free to decide whether they want to participate in the programme and up to which amount, received a large interest with the ministers and representatives from 14 countries agreeing in Berlin to subscribe to the programme up to a rate which exceeded the expectations.

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its a nice idea, Mars Express has done great so I think they'll do a rover next or try an MSR

European leaders are very divided on the idea of manned flight and it lacks political backing, so it won't be at least until 2030 when they start thinking of this

[ToSeek]

Europe's new Mars probe to banish ghost of Beagle 2

Europe is gearing up to send another probe to the surface of Mars. At a press conference in London, UK, on Monday, scientists outlined their ambitions for the ExoMars mission, which will look for chemical signs of life, past or present, on the Martian surface.

The UK will be a major contributor to ExoMars, due for launch in 2011. If successful, it would heal some disappointment over the failure of the British Beagle 2 lander in 2003. “The UK is actively preparing to return to Mars,” said John Zarnecki, a planetary scientist from the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK.

[ToSeek]

Mars mission team unveils a new recruit: robot Bridget

SCIENTISTS yesterday unveiled a robotic rover vehicle nicknamed Bridget that will be the centrepiece of the most advanced attempt to find life on Mars.

The 10ft by 6ft, six-wheeled vehicle, called an "autonomous robotic scientist", will be able to patrol the surface of Mars carrying sophisticated equipment and panoramic cameras, enabling it to operate without the need for detailed supervision from ground control.

The prototype of the £100 million Mars Rover was unveiled in London as scientists revealed details of the European space agency's ExoMars mission, set for launch in 2011.

[mickal555]

As part of ESA's ambitious, long-term Aurora exploration program, ExoMars will search for traces of life on Mars. The mission requires entirely new technologies for self-controlled robots, built-in autonomy and cutting-edge visual terrain sensors.

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/ESA...Rover_999.html

[antoniseb]

I thought I saw a Universe Today story about this...

[ToSeek]

Threads merged.

[ToSeek]

The Robotic Side of Aurora

As part of ESA's ambitious, long-term Aurora exploration programme, ExoMars will search for traces of life on Mars. The mission requires entirely new technologies for self-controlled robots, built-in autonomy and cutting-edge visual terrain sensors.

The fourth decade of this century could see Europe participating in a manned mission to Mars in what would be one of humanity's grandest space expeditions ever.

Aurora is ESA's programme aimed at the long-term robotic and human exploration of the Solar System, with Mars and the Moon as the main targets.

[Blob]

Net users who cannot get down to the Farnborough International Airshow this week can see the event instead through the eyes of Europe's Mars rover.

The ExoMars vehicle, due to be launched to the Red Planet in 2011, is currently going through its design phases.
The six-wheeled testbed chassis, dubbed Bridget, is on show at Farnborough to demonstrate how the vehicle would navigate rocky Martian terrain.
Bridget has been rigged with a webcam so surfers can follow her progress.

The webcam can supposedly be view here (if you can find it).

Source

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Martian aerial vehicle
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Aurora/SEM7YRY7QQE_1.html

Mars sample return mission
http://www.bautforum.com/showthread.php?t=8287

[ToSeek]

Canada bails on future Mars rover

he Canadian government has pulled the plug on a bid by Canadian companies to build the European Space Agency's ExoMars rover, leaving ESA scrambling to fill the gap.

ESA had expected a group of Canadian companies to build the rover, which would have required the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to contribute CDN $100 million (US $86 million) over 10 years.

But the Canadian government has refused to earmark the funds for this purpose, saying it has not made up its mind about the country's future role in space. Now ESA has to try to find other companies to build the rover, which is supposed to be launched in 2013 and land on the Red Planet in 2015.

[JonClarke]

Canada bails on future Mars rover

Since when was Canada the major contractor on ExoMars? The main contracts to date have been with Alenia Spazio (Italy), Alcatel Space (France) and EADS Astrium (France). The only Canadian component was through MD Robotics, as a subcontractor to Alcatel.

Jon

[ToSeek]

There's a later report that two teams were given the assignment to carry out "detailed design" studies, with one of the teams headed by MD Robotics. Even though this says that this is a Phase A effort, I think if it were a NASA project it would be called Phase B.

[JonClarke]

Thank you for the additional info. Still, they are only part of the overal effortl, not, as NS implies, the only contractor. I understand that the Candians are interested in their own independent Mars mission, which is one reason they mau have fulledout.

Jon

[MaDeR]

Moved from Phoenix thread...

(Role of Pillinger in Beagle 2 faliure)

The very best way to recover from a failure is to take the same team - make SOME changes - but leave those with the important experience in place to carry forward.

In other words, you do not think that replacing Pillinger with someone else is neccessary? Why planned followup was cancelled, if Beagle 2 and Pillinger are so cool?

The mistake Pillinger made was to try and do too much, with too little, in too short a time.

Who decided to treat Beagle 2 like any other instrument of Mars Express? Anyway Pillinger was responsible for Beagle 2 mission and if this mission ends in faliure...

Since you condemn the Beagle 2 team after a single failure,

I codemn Pillinger. I slowly get used to being accused of saying things that I never said. Strange board, BTW.

I assume you woudl similar condemn the NASA team that built the ranger missions, with 6 straight failures before their first success. or the Russians, who got data from the surface of Venus on their 17th attempt.

Well, remind me, when NASA did Ranges, when Soviets did Venera's, and when Beagle 2 was launched. Now you know why your comparsion is unfair?

The Vikings were not simple missions. They were the largest and most complex missions ever to land on Mars. And they were first up. NASA decided to do a complex mission right from the start. Pathfinder and Sojourner were simple because the management philosophy at that time was for faster cheaper better.

I see here two shools.
First (mine): Series of careful steps, incrementally progressing. Recommended for inexperienced space agencies (like ESA now or NASA in past).
Second: We can send right away more complex mission as first. But this require experienced and more capable space agency, if we want any chance of success, because loss will cost more.

Each have advantages and disadvantages, but as you can see, I prefer first school.

What I said was correct. If you had read the wikipedia article in more detail you would have seen that the Block 1 rangers were Earth orbit test craft, block 2 was designed to hard land a seismometer on the Moon (and thus return data after landing), and block 3 were impact probes (designed to return data up to impact). Different missions all together.

Looks like after faliures in block 2 (your "hard land") they decided to do simpler mission (impact). And they succeeded. Anyway these are not different missions as whole, because while mission goals was somewhat different, construction as whole was very similiar from one Ranger spacecraft to another, with modifications and improvements all the way.

When ESA committed to building Giotto nobody had sent a probe to a comet.

This is not important. Important is different question: Is ESA first space agency to commit building comet mission? If no, no wonder that you phrase this in that way.

Huygens not a simple descent probe. Itwas designed to survive landing on a wide range of surfaces and carried a experiment package designed to analyse a wide range of surface materials. So it is you who are wrong, not me.

Designed, yes. Certain, no. Wow, how is easy to say some things in hindsight...

"This contraption should be a great toy"
So I have quoted your words exactly.

Ouch, yes. You got me here. I still think that Phoenix-like mission would be good for ESA. More experienced NASA should go with other, more interesting and challenging Scout propositions.

[ToSeek]

Europe targets its own Moon and Mars missions

Digging on Mars and drilling on the Moon could become the main aims of Europe's space effort. These were the enticing prospects discussed at a meeting this week in Edinburgh, Scotland, about the European Space Agency's Aurora exploration programme.

The meeting endorsed Aurora's flagship, a mission to take samples of rock and soil from Mars and return them to Earth, which could reveal evidence of past or present alien life.

Another mission could be sent to bring back part of a near-Earth asteroid, while on the Moon, ESA's robots and astronauts could build a giant radio telescope to probe the early universe and even search for fossils blasted off the Earth.

[ToSeek]

Europe faces crunch decision over Mars rover mission: ESA

Members of the European Space Agency face a looming tough decision over whether to cut back a planned unmanned mission to Mars or stump up extra cash, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain warned on Wednesday.
...
n a New Year's meeting with the press here, Dordain said the rover was over-burdened with instruments compared with the launch capability of the Russian Soyuz rocket that has been contracted to take it aloft.

ESA members will either have to lose some of the instruments so that the rover can be launched by a Soyuz, or opt for a bigger launcher, which will cost more money, he said.

In 2005, ESA members earmarked 650 million euros (838 million dollars) for ExoMars.

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New Rocket for a bigger payload ?

The Oural program
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Ru...Space_999.html
Russian and European firms are pursuing a joint program to develop heavy-duty launch vehicles.

[JonClarke]

Ariane V is already a strong contender for ExoMars and is an operational system. Not only will it solve the mass issues, it will allow a faster transit, allowing a later launch but not changing the arrival time.

Jon

[ToSeek]

Looking for Microbial Martians

A miniature detector, 1 million times more sensitive than the ones carried by Viking, will search for amino acids on Mars. The detector will be sent to Mars aboard the European Space Agency’s ExoMars spacecraft, scheduled for a 2013 launch.

[djellison]

Excellent piece on The Sky at Night this month...Squyres in Milton Keynes discussing the ExoMars prototype rover with one of its engineers as they drive it around the OU garden

Doug

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First Phobos, Then On to Mars
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-2-24/52131.html

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Germany Plans Moon Mission -- Without European Help
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...471159,00.html
Germany's national space center is planning a mission to the moon to explore its mineral resources. And, perhaps bearing the Airbus disaster in mind, they want to do so without the help of their European neighbors.

[publiusr]

They need to get behind Ariane M then.

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ESA prepares for a human mission to Mars

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Briefing Meeting Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Call for Proposals

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/obj...objectid=40902

[PraedSt]

Bump!

Bad news first. A major instrument package, Humbold, will be dropped from ExoMars in order to contain cost and mass-creep.

And now the good news. NASA and ESA are nearly ready to sign a MOU: all future Mars exploration will be joint ventures between the two agencies.

BBC news article
Wiki page on ExoMars

It was hoped a static science payload called Humboldt could also be put on the surface to study the weather and, for example, listen for "Marsquakes". But agency officials announced at the Paris air show that financial constraints now made this impossible.

Esa director-general Jean-Jacques Dordain said de-scoping ExoMars would also give extra margin to engineers who were concerned that the rover's design was pushing the limit of the maximum possible mass for mission.

Mr Dordain said the loss of Humboldt was inevitable given the promise he had made to European governments in November last year to keep the cost of the project as close as possible to 850m euros.

The American space agency (Nasa) has its own money worries and is keen to share the cost of Mars exploration with Europe.
Nasa is set to sign a "letter of intent" to this effect at a bilateral meeting in Plymouth, UK, on 30 June.
This would mean all future Red Planet missions being badged Nasa/Esa projects.

On ExoMars, the US is now set to provide the launcher - an Atlas rocket. It will also probably build the carrier spacecraft that delivers the rover to Red Planet; and the orbiter which will circle above Mars and relay its data back to Earth.

This would represent a considerable investment on the part of the Americans, but the quid pro quo is that European money will then be put into future US-led missions.

The Humbold payload from wiki.

Following the April 2005 Birmingham meeting, it was proposed that the lander carries a suite of fixed instruments dedicated to Mars internal geophysics and environment study. This "package" will measure geophysics and environment parameters, which are of first importance to understand Mars and its long term habitability. This will include monitoring seismic, tectonic and volcanic activity, as well as measuring the magnetic field, UV radiation, dust deposition, wind, and humidity. It should survive at least six years on Mars, allowing to initiate long term environment variations, and will allow to initiate a first network of scientific stations at the Mars surface.[19] The GEP was renamed to become the Humbolt payload.