Latest ExoMars Stories

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Space Agency (ESA) and Russian federal space agency (Roscosmos) have finally signed a formal agreement to work together on the ExoMars program to determine whether life ever existed on Mars. Under the partnership, ESA agreed to provide the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM) in 2016 as well as the carrier and rover in 2018. Roscosmos agreed to be responsible for the 2018...

PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Curiosity rover has, for the first time, used a drill carried at the end of its robotic arm to bore into a flat, veiny rock on Mars and collect a sample from its interior. This is the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) The fresh hole, about 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) wide and 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) deep...

[ Watch the Video: From The Pampas to the Stars ] redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online The official inauguration of a new European Space Agency (ESA) tracking station capable of monitoring missions traveling hundreds of millions of miles into our Solar System is set for Tuesday. The facility, which is located in approximately 745 miles west of Buenos Aires in the city of Malargüe, Argentina, features a nearly 115 foot diameter, 610 metric ton antenna that can...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Building on the huge success of the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity mission and its past Spirit and Opportunity missions, NASA is making new plans to send a new rover to the Red Planet in 2020. And if all goes as planned, NASA said it also wants to put astronauts in orbit around Mars by the 2030s, highlighting a call for human space exploration outlined by President Barack Obama. NASA said the cost of a rover mission fits...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Building on the success of Curiosity's Red Planet landing, NASA has announced plans for a robust multi-year Mars program, including a new robotic science rover set to launch in 2020. This announcement affirms the agency's commitment to a bold exploration program that meets our nation's scientific and human exploration objectives. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "The Obama administration is committed to...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Russia has come to an agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) member states to take a significant role in planned Red Planet missions in 2016 and 2018. The 2016 mission will look for methane and other trace gases in the atmosphere and another in 2018 that aims to put a rover on the Martian surface. Russia stepping up fills a void left by the US who pulled back from the projects earlier this year. The American withdrawal looked...

PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's car-sized rover, Curiosity, has taken significant steps toward understanding how Mars may have lost much of its original atmosphere. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Learning what happened to the Martian atmosphere will help scientists assess whether the planet ever was habitable. The present atmosphere of Mars is 100 times thinner than Earth's. A set of instruments aboard the rover has...

European Space Agency Report One of the world’s most sophisticated satellite tracking stations is nearing inauguration in Malargüe, Argentina, 1000 km west of Buenos Aires. The new station will ensure reliable communications with missions voyaging hundreds of millions of kilometers into our Solar System. ESA’s new tracking station, near the town of Malargüe in Mendoza province, joins two existing stations in Spain and Australia to provide global coverage for the Agency’s...

[ Watch the Video: Curiosity's First Scoopful of Mars ] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Curiosity dug up its first Martian soil over the weekend, collecting a scoopful of sand and powdery material at the "Rocknest" site. NASA confirmed the success of the rover's digging, and said that imaging verified collection of the sample. The collected material will be used for cleaning and interior surfaces of the rover's sample-handling mechanism, according to the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Curiosity rover is in a position on Mars where scientists and engineers can begin preparing the rover to take its first scoop of soil for analysis. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Curiosity is the centerpiece of the two-year Mars Science Laboratory mission. The rover's ability to put soil samples into analytical instruments is central to assessing whether its present location on Mars, called...