Schiaparelli crashed on the surface of Mars – TVN Meteo

Photos uploaded using the NASA probe reveal that the lander descended onto the surface of Mars from a height of 2-4 km and it was destroyed. Contact Schiaparellim executed Wednesday approx. 50 seconds before the expected landing. The control center of the mission in Darmstadt announced that the lander hit the surface of Mars with a speed of over 300 km/h.

- It’s sad, but we must conclude that Schiaparelli landed successfully, – said the Agency dpa, the head of ESA Jan Woerner.

Schiaparelli, named after the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparellego (1835-1910), was sent to Mars in the frame of ExoMars mission, in particular, to search for biological traces of life on this planet. In the construction of the research tools used in this mission were also attracted by the Polish scientists and Polish companies.

Joint project

Mission ExoMars are: the European Space Agency and Space Agency Russian Federal space Agency. The project consists of two stages. The first stage included the launch of the orbital Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the lander Entry, Descent and landing demonstrator Module (EDM), known as Schiaparelli. They were lifted into space from the Baikonur cosmodrome on 14 March 2016. and sent to Mars together. In turn, the second stage would rely on to launch in 2020 lander with Rover to study egzobiologicznych and geochemical on the surface of Mars. the

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three days before the planned landing Schiaparelli separated from the probe Trace Gas Orbiter. 12 hours after disconnecting the oxygen sensor to adjust its course to avoid entering the atmosphere and to be in orbit around Mars. In turn, Schiaparelli remained in sleep mode to reduce energy consumption. It came out just a short time before entering the Martian atmosphere at a height of 122.5 km and at a speed of about 21 thousand km/h.

the boarding Procedure began with wytracania speed by using the aerodynamic protective heat. Included to open the parachute opened at an altitude of 11 km, at a speed of 1650 km/h to reduce the speed of 250 km/h and then the refusal of the front cover and the inclusion of dopplerowskiego radar altimeter, and speed sensor.

At an altitude of about 1 km where the deviation of the rear heat shield and a parachute is scheduled to run three engines on liquid fuel (hydrazynę), to reduce the speed to less than 7 km/h At a height of 2 meters above the surface, the engines should be turned off.

on Thursday the ESA announced that Schiaparelli passed through the upper atmosphere of Mars, the heat shield worked correctly, the parachute opened as expected, but then the unit began to behave differently than expected.

mission accomplished

For the overall success of the ESA acknowledged at the time as the main part of the ExoMars – mission maneuvers the probe the orbital Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). On Wednesday, the probe is correctly released on an elliptical orbit around Mars, its condition is good and will conduct the planned research is confirmed.