http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/science/mars-lander-schiaparelli.html 2016-10-17 19:37:55 ExoMars, Poised to Reach Red Planet and Gather Clues The spacecraft is to arrive at the red planet on Wednesday, perhaps providing important clues about geological process, or even hints of life. === ExoMars 2016 The main part of the spacecraft, the Trace Gas Orbiter, will move into orbit with instruments able to sniff gases in the thin Martian atmosphere — including methane. Observations by Earth-based telescopes and by spacecraft — including the European Space Agency’s previous The finding surprised researchers. Methane is broken down by sunlight and chemical reactions in the atmosphere; any methane there now must have been released recently. The gas can be generated by microbes or by a geological process requiring heat and liquid water. The new orbiter carries a better instrument than the one on Mars Express. “We expect to obtain test exposures soon after orbit insertion, and are finalizing the instrument settings now,” said The Trace Gas Orbiter, which is to operate until at least 2022, will also measure water vapor, nitrogen oxides and acetylene, each less than 1 percent of the atmosphere. (The atmosphere is 95 percent carbon dioxide.) It will produce maps of subsurface hydrogen, which could reveal hidden deposits of frozen water. The second part of the ExoMars mission, a lander named Schiaparelli — after the 19th-century Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli — detached from the orbiter on Sunday as planned. On Wednesday, the orbiter’s engine is to fire, slowing the spacecraft so it can be captured by Martian gravity. But Schiaparelli is to speed onward, at 13,000 miles per hour, into the atmosphere. Slowed first by the heat shield, then parachutes and finally thrusters, the probe’s descent to the surface should take less than six minutes. Schiaparelli is to land on a plain named Meridiani Planum, the region that NASA’s Opportunity rover has been exploring for a dozen years. The European Space Agency is to Schiaparelli will take measurements of wind speed, air temperature, dust, humidity and other aspects of the atmosphere, but only for a few days until its batteries die. The probe’s main purpose, however, is to test its landing technologies, which will also be used for a more ambitious mission that is to put an