Mission to Mars delayed
IT was announced last week that the launch of the ExoMars 2020 mission to Mars has been delayed for more than two years. The mission is a joint initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Roscosmos Space Corporation.
The launch had been planned for July this year, so it will now be late 2022 before we see it on its way to the Red Planet. The delay has come about partly because of the interruptions to activities caused by COVID-19.
The ExoMars program has seen several delays, but a mission that arrived in 2016 resulted in the successful insertion of the Trace Gas Orbiter into orbit around Mars. Even so, the accompanying lander, called Schiaparelli, failed to land on the surface safely, so only part of that overall mission went as planned.
ExoMars 2020, which will now effectively be ExoMars 2022, will deploy a rover called Rosalind Franklin on the surface.
Franklin (1920-1958) performed key research into the molecular structure of DNA, as well as having many other achievements in the field of molecular biology.
It is a fitting tribute to her wonderful work, as the mission’s main aim is to assess the possibility of past or present life on the Red Planet. It also aims to give us a better understanding of Martian water. Today, water cannot exist as a liquid on the surface because of the temperatures and pressures there, but long ago it was certainly present.
Knowing the history of the water on Mars, which now can exist only in solid or gaseous form, is strongly connected with our assessment of the likelihood of past life.
So, what is causing the delay? Last week the ESA and Roscosmos released the information that the tests of the components “need more time to complete”, commenting that this will “maximise the robustness of all ExoMars systems”.
Effectively, this means that they are making use of an extra two years to increase the chances of the mission being completely successful.
The mission has an interesting combination of major components: an ESA rover, being deployed by a Russian landing craft called Kazachok.
The feelings of those involved in the mission are understandable.
This will be the first European rover and, if all goes well, it will be the first successful landing on Mars by Russia in modern times. (Actually, the Soviet Union achieved the very first Martian soft landing, in 1971, with its Mars 3 lander, but the craft failed shortly after touching down.)
Quite apart from all involved wanting to feel sure that they have done everything they can to achieve success, a very recent problem has developed: COVID-19 is making it difficult or impossible for scientists in Europe to engage in necessary travel.
This, I feel, more or less cemented the need for the delay, even though there is a strong implication that it was on the cards anyway.
The reason for the delay being specifically more than two years arises simply from the laws of physics. Launch opportunities are spaced that far apart in time because Earth and Mars need to be in the correct relative positions in their orbits, so that the spacecraft arrives at Mars after being placed in a transfer orbit. This is, temporarily, an orbit around the sun that ‘touches’ Earth and Mars at exactly the right points.
Hopefully, we’ll see Kazachok and Rosalind Franklin settle on the red dust of Mars in 2023.
COVID-19 has had an impact on other areas of astronomy and space research. Members of the International Astronomical Union will be attending few if any international meetings, and the
International Planetarium Society’s biennial conference, which was to have been held in Canada in June, has been postponed until further notice.
Here in Australia, the National Australian Convention of Amateur Astronomers over Easter has been cancelled; it was to have been held in Parkes in New South Wales. I am sure that the list is far more extensive than this.
Meanwhile, we have just entered ‘astronomical’ autumn, with the March equinox having occurred yesterday at 2.50pm. I hope you enjoy the lengthening nights!