alexander koryagin написал(а) к All в Mar 16 11:16:40 по местному времени:

Нello!

Сегодня в час дня будет запущена российско-британская миссия к Марсу с целью выяснить подробности о метане обнаруженном на Марсе. Если все пройдет нормально намечается следующий проект (в 2018-20 годах) с участием ровера, способного бурить поверхность Марса.

Запуск будет связкой Протон-Бриз. 16 Октября планируется посадка небольшого спускаемого аппарата "Скиапарелли". В основном он предназначен для отлаживания технологии посадки (испытание теплового щита, парашютов, тормозных двигателей, специальной разрушаемой тормозной подушки, гасящей удар). На посадочном модуле не будет видеокамер. Будут сделаны ряд измений до разрядки аккумуляторов. Нужно проверить что оборудование (радар и компьютер модуля которые будут использованы в следующей миссии) успешно перенесут посадку.

Орбитальный модуль будет детально исследовать марсианскую атмосферу и прежде всего метан. Это газ быстро распадается под дейстием ультрафиолета и на Марсе должен быть источни его пополнения. Есть две гипотезы - химическая и биологическая. Основной источник метана на Земле это микробы.

Далее автор приводит данные по всем нашим попыткам полететь на Марс. ;-)

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Mars methane mission set for lift-off

By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent, Darmstadt

The Proton and its Breeze upper-stage will hurl the TGO away from Earth
Europe and Russia are about to launch a joint mission to the Red Planet.

A Proton rocket is going hurl a satellite to Mars to investigate whether
the methane in its atmosphere is coming from a geological source or is
being produced by microbes.

If all goes well, the two space powers expect to follow up this venture
with a rover, to be assembled in the UK, which will drill into the
surface.

That could launch in 2018, or, as seems increasingly likely, in 2020.

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) is primed to lift off from the famous
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 15:31 local time (09:31 GMT) on
Monday.

It will take the carrier rocket more than 10 hours to put the satellite on
the right trajectory to go to Mars.

This involves a series engine burns on the Proton's Breeze upper-stage
that should eventually fling the TGO away from Earth with a relative
velocity of 33,000km/h.

The flight sequence is sure to strain the nerves of space agency
officials.

For Russia especially, the Red Planet represents a destination of wretched
fortune.

It has previously launched 19 missions to the fourth planet from the Sun,
and most of those have been outright failures.

Many could not to get off the pad cleanly; others simply stalled above the
Earth and fell back down; a few crashed and burned at Mars or sailed
straight past.

Assuming everything works out this time, controllers at the European Space
Agency's operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany, can expect a signal from
the TGO after it has been released on its way by the Breeze boost stage.

This should come through at 21:28 GMT. It is then a seven-month cruise to
Mars.

Three days out from arrival, on 16 October, the satellite will eject a
small landing module known as Schiaparelli.

Once on the surface, on 19 October, its aim is to operate a few science
instruments, but engineers are primarily interested to see how the module
performs during the entry, descent and touchdown.

In particular, Schiaparelli will showcase a suite of technologies - radar,
computers and their algorithms - that will be needed to put a later,
British-built rover safely on the planet.

This second step in the joint European-Russian ExoMars project is supposed
to leave Earth in 2018, although this is now looking increasingly doubtful
because of funding and scheduling issues. Many connected with ExoMars are
now talking about 2020 as being a more realistic launch date.

Schiaparelli will be released by the TGO close to Mars, on 16 October The
probe will hit the top of the Martian atmosphere at a speed of 21,000km/h
It will use a heatshield, parachute and rockets to slow its descent The
final touchdown will be cushioned by crushable material on its belly The
probe will take pictures on the way down, but it has no surface camera
Schiaparelli will make environmental observations until its battery dies
The main goal is to demonstrate its descent radar, computers and
algorithms These will be used in the mechanism that lands the future
ExoMars rover None of this affects the TGO mission, however.

After it has dropped off Schiaparelli, the satellite will spend the better
part of a year manoeuvring itself into a 400km-high circular orbit above
Mars.

From this vantage point, the orbiter's state-of-the-art instruments will
then make a detailed inventory of Mars' atmospheric gases.

Methane is the key interest. Previous observations - by satellite, Earth-
based telescopes and America's Curiosity rover on the surface of the
planet - found the hydrocarbon to be present in very low concentrations,
at just a few parts per billion by volume.

That it is there at all is surprising. Ultraviolet light should remove the
gas from the atmosphere within a few hundred years, which suggests it must
be replenished somehow.

Image copyrightNASA/JPL-CALTECН/MSSS Image caption The American Curiosity
rover has detected very low concentrations of methane at Mars' surface One
possible active source involves geological activity at depth, where water
could be reacting with rock minerals to produce hydrogen, which is then
further processed into methane.

Another tantalising prospect is that the source is biological in origin.

Most of the methane in Earth's atmosphere comes from microbes, like those
in the stomachs of ruminants.

There are no cows on Mars, but simple organisms could conceivably be
operating just below the surface of the planet.

The TGO's measurements should throw some light on these competing ideas.

Russia's torrid history of Mars missions
+=====+
Marsnik 1 (1960): Mars flyby - did not reach Earth orbit
Marsnik 2 (1960): Mars flyby - did not reach Earth orbit
Sputnik 22 (1962): Mars flyby - achieved Earth orbit only
Mars 1 (1962): Mars flyby - radio failed at 106 million km
Sputnik 24 (1962): Mars flyby - achieved Earth orbit only
Zond 2 (1964): Mars flyby - passed Mars but radio failed, returned no planetary data
Mars 1969A (1969): Mars orbiter - did not reach Earth orbit
Mars 1969B (1969): Mars orbiter - failed during launch
Kosmos 419 (1971): Mars lander - achieved Earth orbit only
Mars 2 (1971): Mars orbiter/lander - arrived but limited data return; lander burned up due to steep entry
Mars 3 (1971): Mars orbiter/lander - arrived but limited data return; lander operated on surface for 20 seconds before failing
Mars 4 (1973): Mars orbiter - flew past Mars
Mars 5 (1973): Mars orbiter - arrived, lasted a few days
Mars 6 (1973): Mars flyby module and lander - arrived but lander failed due to fast impact
Mars 7 (1973): Mars flyby module and lander - arrived but lander missed the planet
Phobos 1 (1988): Mars orbiter and Phobos lander - lost en route to Mars
Phobos 2 (1988): Mars orbiter and Phobos lander - lost near Phobos
Mars 96 (1996): Mars orbiter/two landers/two penetrators - launch vehicle failed
Phobos-Grunt (2011): Phobos lander and sample return - achieved Earth orbit only
+=====+

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35799792
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С наилучшими пожеланиями, alexander koryagin.

--- wfido