[meteorite-list] NASA And ESA'S First Joint Mission To Mars Selects Instruments

[Ron Baalke]

Aug. 02, 2010

Dwayne Brown 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1726 
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

Jorge Vago 
European Space Agency, The Netherlands 
31-71-5655211 
jorge.vago at esa.int   


RELEASE: 10-181

NASA AND ESA'S FIRST JOINT MISSION TO MARS SELECTS INSTRUMENTS

WASHINGTON -- NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have embarked 
on a joint program to explore Mars in the coming decades and selected 
the five science instruments for the first mission. 

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, scheduled to launch in 2016, is the 
first of three joint robotic missions to the Red Planet. It will 
study the chemical makeup of the Martian atmosphere with a 1000-fold 
increase in sensitivity over previous Mars orbiters. The mission will 
focus on trace gases, including methane, which could be potentially 
geochemical or biological in origin and be indicators for the 
existence of life on Mars. The mission also will serve as an 
additional communications relay for Mars surface missions beginning 
in 2018. 

"Independently, NASA and ESA have made amazing discoveries up to this 
point," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator of NASA's Science 
Mission Directorate in Washington. "Working together, we'll reduce 
duplication of effort, expand our capabilities and see results 
neither ever could have achieved alone." 

NASA and ESA invited scientists worldwide to propose the spacecraft's 
instruments. The five selected were from 19 proposals submitted in 
January. Both agencies evaluated the submissions and chose those with 
the best science value and lowest risk. 

The selection of the instruments begins the first phase of the new 
NASA-ESA alliance for future ventures to Mars. The instruments and 
the principal investigators are: 

-- Mars Atmosphere Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer -- A 
spectrometer designed to detect very low concentrations of the 
molecular components of the Martian atmosphere: Paul Wennberg, 
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Calif. 
-- High Resolution Solar Occultation and Nadir Spectrometer -- A 
spectrometer designed to detect traces of the components of the 
Martian atmosphere and to map where they are on the surface: Ann C. 
Vandaele, Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Brussels, Belgium. 
-- ExoMars Climate Sounder -- An infrared radiometer that provides 
daily global data on dust, water vapor and other materials to provide 
the context for data analysis from the spectrometers: John Schofield, 
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif. 
-- High Resolution Color Stereo Imager -- A camera that provides 
four-color stereo imaging at a resolution of two million pixels over 
an 8.5 km swath: Alfred McEwen, University of Arizona. 
-- Mars Atmospheric Global Imaging Experiment -- A wide-angle, 
multi-spectral camera to provide global images of Mars in support of 
the other instruments: Bruce Cantor, Malin Space Science Systems, San 
Diego, Calif. 

The science teams on all the instruments have broad international 
participation from Europe and the United States, with important 
hardware contributions from Canada and Switzerland. 

"To fully explore Mars, we want to marshal all the talents we can on 
Earth," said David Southwood, ESA director for Science and Robotic 
Exploration. "Now NASA and ESA are combining forces for the joint 
ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission. Mapping methane allows us to 
investigate further that most important of questions: Is Mars a 
living planet, and if not, can or will it become so in the future?" 

NASA and ESA share a common interest in conducting robotic missions to 
the Red Planet for scientific purposes and to prepare for possible 
human visits. After a series of extensive discussions, the science 
heads of both agencies agreed on a plan of cooperation during a July 
2009 meeting in Plymouth, England, later confirmed by ESA Director 
General Jean-Jacques Dordain and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in 
a statement of intent that was signed in November. 

The plan consists of two Mars cooperative missions in 2016 and 2018, 
and a later joint sample return mission. The 2016 mission features 
the European-built ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a European-built small 
lander demonstrator, a primarily-U.S. international science payload, 
and NASA-provided launch vehicle and communications components. ESA 
member states will provide additional instrument support. 

The 2018 mission consists of a European rover with a drilling 
capability, a NASA rover capable of caching selected samples for 
potential future return to Earth, a NASA landing system, and a NASA 
launch vehicle. These activities are designed to serve as the 
foundation of a cooperative program to increase science returns and 
move the agencies toward a joint Mars sample return mission in the 
2020s. 

NASA's Mars Exploration Program seeks to characterize and understand 
Mars as a dynamic system, including its present and past environment, 
climate cycles, geology and potential for life. JPL manages the 
program and development of the NASA-supplied instruments for the 2016 
orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. 

For information about NASA's Mars programs, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/mars   
	
-end-