Here's where the ExoMars 2020 mission will probably land and why

When it comes to landing a robot on another planet, the Perhaps the most important question is to know what is going well. The researchers behind the upcoming ExoMars mission, consisting of a rover and a lander, have now announced their preferred location on the Red Planet.

After several years of discussions, scientists chose Oxia Planum as the optimal site, according to an announcement meeting at the National Space Center in Leicester, UK. Although subject to further scrutiny, this location could be a point of choice to determine if life has ever existed on Mars.

"We can fulfill the objectives of the mission in this place and the ease of movement is very good: the rover will be able to drive," Veronique Dehant, senior researcher of the Lander radio-science experiment on the surface platform of the Royal Observatory of Belgium, told Gizmodo.

ExoMars 2020 is the sequel to the ExoMars Missions: a rover and landing platform that will be sent to Mars as part of an ongoing effort. a joint mission of the European Space Agency and Roscosmos (Russia). The rover and the platform are made of instruments for measuring the dirt and the atmosphere of the planet and separate just before landing. The main objective of the mission is to find traces of organic molecules deep in Martian dirt, and perhaps even biosignatures, chemical signs of life.

Since Mars has about as much land as Earth has, the choice of a site has been a long process, according to an ESA fact sheet. Such a site must be interesting scientifically, with traces of a wet past. It must also be in a low zone to maximize the amount of available atmosphere, to slow the downward payload with its rockets and parachutes. And it must be flat enough to land safely and allow a rover to navigate.

Oxia Planum lies just north of the equator of Mars. The cbads that cross the clay are signs of ancient waterways and a potential reservoir of organic molecules

The selection follows a five-year process that began with an organized working group and then a call for applications. The team has limited its options to two sites, Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis, further north. Although both are of scientific interest and the Mawth Vallis have a slightly more diverse geology, Oxia Planum has gained, being the most navigable site at a lower altitude.

can not locate the exact location of the landing; instead, they create an ellipse that serves as a target for the landing components. The ellipse is relatively unobstructed, there is a crater in its corner and about the size of Rhode Island. The chances of landing in a crater are relatively slim, said Dehant.

A successful landing is not limited to choosing a good location, of course, the descent must proceed as planned. In 2016, the ExoMars Schiaparell LG crashed because of an error on his onboard computer.

The choice of a landing site determines the type of science that a rover could be led to carry out. Oxia Planum is not much different from Gale Crater, the former presumed lake bed that currently houses NASA's Curiosity rover, in terms of the kind of scientific discovery it offers, Dehant told Gizmodo. But she hopes that Oxia Planum will be a fruitful place for researching biosignatures.

The rover experiments will not only focus on dirt, but there will be a series of instruments to study the climate and atmosphere of the planet. After all, not only the recent Curiosity results have revealed the presence of organic molecules on the planet, but also a strange seasonal variation of its atmospheric methane.

Scientists interested in the Martian atmosphere may have fewer requirements as to the location of the mission. They just need the experience to get in working order.

"As long as it is safe," said to Gizmodo Francesca Ferri, senior investigator of the investigation and landing experience on the entrance and the l 39; Landing the planet Mars as part of ExoMars 2016. "It's the most important thing."

[ESA]