Hi guys, FYI, ESA European mission Exomars is arriving at Mars tomorrow. This is the timeline... 16 October – spacecraft separation A short statement confirming the outcome of the separation will be streamed live from the main control room of ESA's Spacecraft Operations Centre starting at 14:30 GMT / 16:30 CEST. 19 October – landing and arriving at Mars Live coverage of ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter arrival and Schiaparelli landing on Mars will begin with Social TV programme via ESA’s Facebook page and Livestream 13:00–15:15 GMT / 15:00–17:15 CEST on 19 October. 20 October – status report and first images A press conference is scheduled for 20 October at 08:00 GMT / 10:00 CEST, when a mission status update is expected, along with the first images from the Schiaparelli descent camera. This will also be streamed live via the player above. Official main page. Good luck ExoMars !!
The amount of good work and quality science done by these unmanned robot probes is just amazing. I really think this is where vast bulk of future space exploration lies, at least until some sort of major technological breakthrough (or three) happen to make it much easier and cheaper for humans to get beyond the orbit of our Moon and make it back in one piece.
Bad news, Schiaparelli, the lander, is silent since after deploying its parachutes... zzzzzzZZZ PUMM! ... Its a pity. Europe is struggling to land in the red planet. The good news is that TGO, the orbiter, has made a perfect orbit insertion. This is key for the 2020 rover communication needs.
Unfortunately it was the second attempt ... the first one was beagle2 in 2003. We have a saying around here: "There's no two without three"... I hope that is not applicable in this case...
