Calibration tests, including low-speed extraction tests at around 120 km/h on both main parachutes and the first high-speed extraction test at a targeted speed of just over 200 km/h on the first main parachute, have already been completed. The low-speed tests were crucial to verify the stability of the new parachute bag design, while the high-speed tests mimic that at which the parachutes will be pulled from their bags during the descent phase at Mars.

Real-time observations of these initial tests showed a clean and correct release of the parachutes from their bags, with no damages seen in either the parachute system or the bag.

“Landing on Mars is difficult and we cannot afford to have any loose ends,” says Thierry Blancquaert, ExoMars Spacecraft Systems Engineering Team Leader.  “After many hurdles, the parachute system modifications are moving forward, and these preliminary tests show very promising results that pave the way for the next qualification tests.”

To save time and resources, and to quickly test the proof of concept of the new parachute bags, the initial tests were carried out using the repaired parachutes from the high-altitude drop tests. Given the positive results of the first tests, and following the completion of the high-speed tests, the extractions will be repeated using the existing parachute ‘spares’, which have not been previously damaged or undergone repairs.

Importantly, unlike the high-altitude drop tests which require complex logistics and strict weather conditions, making them difficult to schedule, the ground tests can be repeated on a quick turnaround, buying significantly more time in the test campaign and reducing risk by allowing more tests to be conducted on a short time frame.

Further high-speed tests are planned in the coming weeks to confirm the results of the preliminary tests. Then the parachute systems will be tested again in two high-altitude drop tests in Oregon, US, in February and March 2020. The tests have to be completed prior to the ExoMars project’s ‘qualification and acceptance review’ planned for the end of April in order to meet the 2020 launch window (26 July–11 August).

In the meantime, the rover is nearing completion of its environmental test campaign at Airbus, Toulouse, France. At the same time, the flight model spacecraft that will transport the mission from Earth to Mars, and which contains the carrier module coupled with the Russian descent module, is at Thales Alenia Space, Cannes, France, where it underwent thermal environment tests. The scientific instruments of the surface platform are now being integrated by the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI). The rover is expected in Cannes in late January, with the integration into the lander foreseen end February.

The mission will launch on a Proton-M rocket with a Breeze-M upper stage from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Once landed safely in the Oxia Planum region of Mars on 19 March 2021, the rover will drive off the surface platform, seeking out geologically interesting sites to drill below the surface, to determine if life ever existed on our neighbour planet.

All parachute system qualification activities are managed and conducted by a joint team involving the ESA project (supported by Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality expertise), TAS-I (prime contractor, in Turin), TAS-F (PAS lead, in Cannes), Vorticity (parachute design and test analysis, in Oxford) and Arescosmo (parachute and bags manufacturing, in Aprilia). NASA/JPL-Caltech has provided engineering consultancy, access to the dynamic extraction test facility, and on-site support. The extraction tests are supported through an engineering support contract with Airborne Systems, who also provide NASA’s Mars 2020 parachutes, and by Free Flight Enterprises for the provision of parachute folding and packing facilities.

The ExoMars programme is a joint endeavour between ESA and Roscosmos. In addition to the 2020 mission, it also includes the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) launched in 2016. The TGO is already both delivering important scientific results of its own and relaying data from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover and InSight lander. It will also relay the data from the ExoMars 2020 mission once it arrives at Mars in March 2021.

Quelle: ESA

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Update: 17.01.2020

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'Rosalind Franklin' Mars rover edges closer to launch

Europe's Mars rover, Rosalind Franklin, has just completed a key set of tests ahead of its planned summer launch.

The robot was put in a thermal-vacuum chamber by manufacturer Airbus for several weeks, to simulate the hot and cold conditions it will experience on the way to the Red Planet.

Further evaluations are now planned for the vehicle's various sub-systems.

The European Space Agency rover is scheduled to leave Earth sometime between 26 July and 11 August.

Rosalind Franklin - a joint endeavour with the Russian space agency - is being equipped with instruments to look for signs of present or past life on Mars.

Given the harsh present-day environment on the planet, any biology is most likely to be found underground - and the robot will carry a drill to dig down up to 2m to find the samples for its on-board laboratory to investigate.

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Once all the testing is finished at Airbus's factory in Toulouse, France, Rosalind Franklin will be moved to Cannes.

It's in the Mediterranean town that prime contractor Thales Alenia Space (TAS) has one of its main satellite integration facilitates.

TAS will introduce the rover to all the other hardware elements needed for the mission.

These comprise a "cruise stage" stage, an entry capsule and a rocket-powered descent platform.

Image copyrightNASA/JPL-CALTECH

They carry the rover to Mars, protect it during the high-speed atmospheric entry, and, finally, put the robot softly down on the surface of the planet.

All these hardware elements are currently going through their own parallel test phases.

The one issue causing a degree of concern at the moment is the parachute system that will be released at supersonic speeds to slow Rosalind Franklin as it heads down to Mars' surface.

The material in these envelopes was tearing in rehearsals last year.

Esa called in the US space agency (Nasa) to help it get to the bottom of the problem, which seemed to relate to the way the chutes were folded in their containment bags.

ExoMars will have four parachutes. Two main parachutes - at 15m and 35m in diameter - and two much smaller companion drogue chutes.

 

Nasa has been running parachute deployment tests using modified bags. The tests are carried out on a high-velocity wire at the American agency's Jet Propulsion Lab in California.

"We started a sequence of ground tests and we reported publicly before Christmas that the first three were successful," said Dr David Parker, Esa's director of human and robotic exploration.

"I can tell you a fourth test happened on Monday which was the full deployment speed of the large main parachute - so 50m/s deployment of the 35m parachute - and it also was successful.

"We are now shifting our focus to doing two high-altitude drop tests to be carried out in Oregon in the US using the modified bags.

"They're planned for February and March, and only when we've completed those tests will we know that we have a system that's safe to launch."

If the drop tests, which will be conducted from stratospheric balloons, repeat past tearing or show up new problems, the rover mission will have to be postponed.

This would mean a delay of two years. This is the period it takes for Mars and Earth to realign their orbits.

Such a postponement would add cost the project but Esa is not revealing what that would actually entail for commercial reasons. It prefers instead to concentrate on getting the current hardware mission-ready.

"We don't think too much about Plan B because if you do, it's already become Plan A," said Bernardo Patti, a senior official in the human and robotic exploration directorate.

"We are engineering positive. People are working incredibly hard. You should see the commitment," he told BBC News.

Quelle: BBC 

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Update: 27.02.2020

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Delay seems likely as parachute problems plague European Mars lander

"This plan will be examined by the two agency heads."

The European and Russian space agencies have announced they will decide the fate of their ExoMars mission at a meeting on March 12.

The joint mission to deliver a rover and suite of scientific instruments to the surface of the red planet is set for a July on a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. However, serious questions were raised about the viability of the lander's complicated parachute systems last year and ongoing problems in testing them.

According to a spokesperson for the European Space Agency (ESA), a "working-level review" for the project was held among ESA and Roscosmos officials in late January, and a preliminary assessment was forwarded to the respective heads of the space agencies, Jan Wörner of ESA and Dmitry Rogozin of Roscosmos, on February 3.

"They instructed the respective inspectors general and program chiefs to submit an updated plan and schedule covering all the remaining activities necessary for an authorization to launch," the ESA spokesperson said. "This plan will be examined by the two agency heads who will meet on 12 March to jointly agree the next steps."

It appears that the European and Russian officials will make a public announcement about ExoMars next month. Their options include pressing ahead with a launch this year or delaying two years until the next favorable window for a launch to Mars opens. Given multiple issues with the mission, a source said a delay is the most likely option.

Parachutes

ExoMars has a two-part system of parachutes to safely bring its the European-built Rosalind Franklin rover and the Russian-led surface platform, Kazachok, to the surface. The first pilot parachute and a 15-meter main parachute are deployed while the lander is still traveling at supersonic speeds through the thin, upper Martian atmosphere. The second set of pilot and main parachutes, which are larger, are deployed at subsonic speeds.

In May 2019, damage occurred to both main parachute canopies during a high altitude drop test from 29km. After assessing the problem and making changes to the design of the parachutes and their bags, the agency conducted another high-altitude test on August 5, this time focusing solely on the larger canopy that deploys in the lower atmosphere. This test, too, was not successful.

The mission has yet to complete a successful high-altitude test of its parachute system and was planning to work with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in February to complete such a trial. Despite promising results from ground-based tests, Russian media reports that that high-altitude tests have now been delayed from February to March.

Rover “pit stop”

Meanwhile, Thales Alenia Space has discovered a defect in the hinge system for the rover's upper-level solar arrays, the BBC reports. The issue was found in both the rover test model and the actual flight model during the process of thermal vacuum chamber testing. Glue that held the brackets in place came unstuck. Engineers are developing a fix.

It is no easy thing to reach Mars. No space agency other than NASA has ever successfully soft landed and operated spacecraft on Mars for longer than a few seconds. In October 2016, the European Space Agency failed to successfully land its Schiaparelli lander after the spacecraft jettisoned its parachute earlier than expected.

This will be a busy year for Mars launches. NASA's Mars 2020 rover is due to launch in July, and with its HX-1 mission, China plans to launch an orbiter, lander, and rover all in one package. Finally, the United Arab Emirates will attempt to fly its Hope Mars Mission orbiter during the July window. The orbiter will launch from Japan on an H2-A rocket.

Quelle: arsTechnica

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Europe's Rosalind Franklin Mars rover to make 'pit stop' for repair

Europe's Mars rover will have to make a "pit stop" for a minor repair when it is moved from France to Italy.

The vehicle, which is currently undergoing final preparations in Cannes prior to a summer launch, has developed a small problem with its solar panels.

Glue that holds brackets in place on the folding arrays has come unstuck.

It's not considered a serious problem and will be fixed when the "Rosalind Franklin" robot passes through Turin on its way to the launch site.

Rosalind Franklin, also known by its codename ExoMars, is a joint venture of the European and Russian space agencies (Esa and Roscosmos).

Various companies and institutions have been contracted to contribute pieces of hardware under the leadership of the Franco-Italian aerospace outfit Thales Alenia Space.

It is TAS that will be moving the rover from its Cannes factory to one in Turin before shipping out to the launch complex at Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The robot is due to arrive at the famous spaceport in mid-May.

The glue defect has occurred in the hinge system on the top-deck solar arrays; specifically, in the brackets that hold and fold the outer wings for the journey to Mars.

The issue was noticed in both the rover test model and the "flight model" (the version of robot that actually goes to Mars) after they emerged from thermal-vacuum testing.

This is the process in which hardware is put in a chamber and confronted with the kinds of swings in temperature it will likely experience during a space mission.

The fix will now involve putting bolts through the brackets to make sure the solar panel wings are securely fastened. Rosalind Franklin is well within its mass target, so engineers are unconcerned about resorting to a heavier solution than glue.

Although not a major issue, this is a glitch the project could have done without.

Officials are in the process of trying to corral the final phases of preparation against the background of a ticking clock.

Opportunities to go to Mars come around only once every 26 months when the planets are favourably aligned. This means Rosalind Franklin has to leave Earth in a narrow window in July/August this summer or skip to the next launch possibility in 2022.

The heads of the agencies, Esa's Jan Wörner and Roscosmos's Dmitry Rogozin, announced on Monday that they would hold a joint press conference in Moscow on 12 March to give a status update.

All the hardware required to send Rosalind Franklin to Mars and land it gently on the surface is built, but there is still a long list of checks that need to be gone through before anything can be put atop a rocket.

This list includes some final stand-out tests on the parachutes and the retro-rockets that will lower the robot to its touchdown location on the Oxia plain at Mars' equator.

There is also the general compatibility and fit-checks of the various elements that will comprise what some describe as the "Russian doll" stack.

This refers to the rover and its landing platform, which together fit inside a capsule, which is then attached to a "cruise stage" - the spacecraft that shepherds everything to the Red Planet.

To give one example of the checks that must be completed: the cruise stage spins for stability in flight. The rover and platform inside their capsule therefore have to be balanced carefully, just like a car tyre, to ensure there is no disruptive wobble.

If all goes to plan, Rosalind Franklin should land on the Red Planet in March 2021. It is being equipped with instruments and a drill to search for signs of life - in the present day or in the distant past.

It is one of four Mars missions targeting the July/August launch window. The others are being prepared in the US, the UAE and China.

Quelle: BBC

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Update: 3.03.2020

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ExoMars parachute tests delayed, mission faces review

 

HELSINKI — The European and Russian space agencies have delayed crucial ExoMars 2020 parachute tests to late March, with the mission also set to face review.

“The high altitude drop tests of the two main parachutes are now planned for the end of March 2020,” an ESA spokesperson told SpaceNews via email. 

The tests of the 15-meter-diameter supersonic and 35-meter-wide subsonic parachutes—an essential part of the entry, descent and landing phase of the mission—had been scheduled for December and February. 

The delay comes despite six ground tests demonstrating successful parachute extraction – the point at which damage was caused in earlier, failed high altitude tests. 

Both tests need to be successful for the go-ahead for launch of 300-kilogram Rosalind Franklin rover during the July 25 to Aug. 13 Mars launch window. Any failure would mean a wait of 26 months for the next launch window, opening late 2022.

Agency heads to decide next steps

However the ExoMars mission could be condemned to delay before the tests are even carried out. The heads of ESA and Russian partner Roscosmos are set to meet next week to discuss next steps following a report on the progress of the mission.

A working-level review of the ExoMars 2020 project held late January, with a preliminary assessment communicated to the heads of the two space agencies on 3 February. 

In response, ESA’s Jan Woerner and Dmitry Rogozin of Roscosmos “instructed the respective inspectors general and program chiefs to submit an updated plan and schedule covering all the remaining activities necessary for an authorization to launch,” the ESA spokesperson stated.

“This plan will be examined by the two agency heads who will meet on 12 March to jointly agree the next steps.”

The decision will be announced at a press briefing held afterwards in Moscow shown live on ESA Web TV.

The ExoMars 2020 mission still faces a final review scheduled April 2020. Parachute issues and any other problems will need to have been solved by this point.

An issue with the rover Rosalind Franklin rover itself will need to be remedied, though this is not thought to be a major issue.

“There is a minor de-bonding of part of the solar array following the system environmental tests. This is a repeat of a problem seen during some earlier tests and a mechanical fix has been foreseen and will be implemented at TAS-I (Torino),” the ESA spokesperson said. “It is not seen as a serious problem.”

ExoMars Parachute tests unfold

A Russian Proton rocket is planned to launch ExoMars rover in July, reaching Mars in March 2021. It will employ a complex system of four parachutes, with two small pilot chutes used to sequentially deploy the supersonic ‘disc–gap band’ chute and subsonic main chute. 

High altitude drop tests of the 15-meter-diameter supersonic and 35-meter-wide subsonic parachutes failed in August and May 2019, threatening delay.

ESA turned to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for assistance, with inspectors finding that damage to the chutes was caused at the point of extraction from their bags. “The focus is on adapting and simplifying the bag [rather] than touching the parachutes,” Francois Spoto, ExoMars program manager, told SpaceNews in September.

The new high altitude drop tests will be carried out in Oregon in the United States. The Esrange Space Center, northern Sweden, hosted the earlier tests.

The unprecedented size and complexity of the parachute system is related to the lander provided by Roscosmos. A more powerful retropropulsive system on the lander could have allowed the mission to require only one main chute, according to Spoto.

ESA and Russia failed to land on Mars with its joint ExoMars 2016 Schiaparelli demonstration lander. A computer issue led to the premature release of its parachute and brief firing of braking thrusters.

NASA, China and the United Arab Emirates are also planning to launch to the Red Planet in July and August.

Quelle: SN

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Update: 4.03.2020

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Russia completes firing tests of propulsion unit for ExoMars lander

ExoMars is a joint program of the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos federal space agency to study Mars set for July-August 2020

The propulsion unit of the ExoMars lander module has passed firing tests, the Lavochkin Research and Production Association said in a statement on Tuesday.

"As part of implementing the ExoMars international project, the firing tests of the propulsion unit of the ExoMars spacecraft’s lander were completed on February 27, 2020," the statement runs.

According to the preliminary analysis, the assignments were fulfilled with positive results, the Lavochkin press office reported.

ExoMars is a joint program of the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos federal space agency to study Mars. The mission will be launched in July-August 2020 by a Proton-M carrier rocket with a Briz-M booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The project aims to study the Martian surface, its atmosphere and climate.

Quelle: TASS

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Update: 13.03.2020

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Europe, Russia postpone joint rover mission to Mars

The European Space Agency and Russia's Roscosmos are postponing a planned joint mission to Mars until 2022, in part due to travel restrictions resulting from the new coronavirus outbreak

BERLIN -- The European Space Agency and Russia's Roscosmos said Thursday they are postponing a planned joint mission to Mars until 2022, in part due to travel restrictions resulting from the new coronavirus outbreak

The ExoMars mission was due to launch this year but concerns about possible technical problems had already prompted both agencies to discuss the delay.

“We want to make ourselves 100% sure of a successful mission,” European Space Agency Director General Jan Woerner said in a statement. ”We cannot allow ourselves any margin of error. More verification activities will ensure a safe trip and the best scientific results on Mars."

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, said the delay was primarily due to technical problems, compounded by the coronavirus outbreak, "which left our experts practically no possibility to proceed with travels to partner industries.”

The mission's goal is to put a rover on the red planet to help determine whether there has ever been life on Mars. Scientists hope the rover, packed with high-tech instruments and named after British chemist Rosalind Franklin, will be able to dig for biological signatures of life below the martian surface and also provide further insights into the planet's history of water.

The postponement is another setback for the ExoMars program after the 2016 launch of an orbiter and a test lander. The Trace Gas Orbiter was successfully deployed, but the Schiaparelli lander malfunctioned and crashed on the surface of Mars, highlighting the difficulty of putting a probe on the planet.

So far, the United States is the only country to successfully land a functioning probe on Mars. NASA's Curiosity and InSight landers are still in operation on the planet.

Three other Mars missions are planned for this summer. The United States is launching a lander, China has a lander-orbiter combo, and the United Arab Emirates is sending an orbiter.

Spacecraft can only be launched to Mars every two years, to take advantage of the best possible lineup between Earth and its neighboring planet.

NASA’s science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen, said ESA and Roscosmos made a “tough decision” in delaying the ExoMars mission.

“Launching & safely landing a spacecraft on Mars are extremely demanding and require many technologies & systems to function perfectly,” he wrote on Twitter.

Quelle: abcNews

+++

N° 6–2020: ExoMars to take off for the Red Planet in 2022

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Roscosmos Space Corporation have decided to postpone the launch of the second ExoMars mission to study the Red Planet to 2022.

The joint ESA-Roscosmos project team evaluated all the activities needed for an authorisation to launch, in order to analyse the risks and schedule. With due consideration of the recommendations provided by European and Russian Inspectors General, ExoMars experts have concluded that tests necessary to make all components of the spacecraft fit for the Mars adventure need more time to complete.

The primary goal of the mission is to determine if there has ever been life on Mars, and to better understand the history of water on the planet. The ExoMars rover, named Rosalind Franklin, includes a drill to access the sub-surface of Mars as well as a miniature life-search laboratory kept within an ultra-clean zone.

In the frame of a dedicated meeting, ESA and Roscosmos heads Jan Wörner and Dmitry Rogozin agreed that further tests to the spacecraft with the final hardware and software are needed. In addition, the parties had to recognise that the final phase of ExoMars activities are compromised by the general aggravation of the epidemiological situation in European countries.

"We have made a difficult but well-weighed decision to postpone the launch to 2022. It is driven primarily by the need to maximise the robustness of all ExoMars systems as well as force majeure circumstances related to exacerbation of the epidemiological situation in Europe which left our experts practically no possibility to proceed with travels to partner industries. I am confident that the steps that we and our European colleagues are taking to ensure mission success will be justified and will unquestionably bring solely positive results for the mission implementation," said Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin.

"We want to make ourselves 100% sure of a successful mission. We cannot allow ourselves any margin of error. More verification activities will ensure a safe trip and the best scientific results on Mars,” said ESA Director General Jan Wörner.

"I want to thank the teams in industry that have been working around the clock for nearly a year to complete assembly and environmental testing of the whole spacecraft. We are very much satisfied of the work that has gone into making a unique project a reality and we have a solid body of knowledge to complete the remaining work as quickly as possible."

To date, all flight hardware needed for the launch of ExoMars has been integrated in the spacecraft. The Kazachok landing platform is fully equipped with thirteen scientific instruments, and the Rosalind Franklin rover with its nine instruments recently passed final thermal and vacuum tests in France. 

The latest ExoMars parachutes dynamic extraction tests have been completed successfully at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the main parachutes are ready for the two final high-altitude drop tests in March in Oregon, US.

The descent module has been undergoing propulsion system qualification in the past month. The ExoMars descent module and landing platform have been undergoing environmental testing in Cannes, France, to confirm the spacecraft is ready to endure the harsh conditions of space on its journey to Mars.

The new schedule foresees a launch between August and October 2022. Celestial mechanics define that only relatively short launch windows (10 days each) every two years exist in which Mars can be reached from Earth.

ExoMars will be the first mission to search for signs of life at depths up to two metres below the martian surface, where biological signatures of life may be uniquely well preserved.

About ExoMars

 

The ExoMars programme is a joint endeavour between the Roscosmos State Corporation and ESA. Apart from the 2022 mission, it includes the Trace Gas Orbiter launched in 2016. The TGO is already both delivering important scientific results obtained by its own Russian and European science instruments and relaying data from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover and InSight lander. The module will also relay the data from the ExoMars 2022 mission once it arrives at Mars.

Quelle: ESA

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Update: 17.05.2020

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ExoMars rover upgrades and parachute tests

The second ExoMars mission, scheduled for launch to the Red Planet in 2022, is taking advantage of the extra time to upgrade some of the rover’s instruments and get ready for the next parachute high-altitude drop tests.

The new launch date on the horizon is allowing more margin for replacements and repairs to the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover.

The solar panels that will help the rover survive the cold Martian nights will gain in strength. After some cracks were detected during the environmental tests earlier this year, new fasteners will be installed to reinforce the interface between panels and holding brackets at the Airbus facilities in Stevenage, in the UK.

The flight model of the rover remains at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, for routine maintenance operations, such as battery charge and cleanliness checks.

Strict microbiological controls are key to make sure that ExoMars does not introduce terrestrial contamination to the Red Planet. This is to comply with the stringent planetary protection requirements and to avoid false positives in the scientific measurements – what scientists call ‘forward contamination’.

Scientists and engineers are looking into replacing the secondary electronics box on the Mars Organic Molecule Analyser, MOMA, an instrument capable of detecting organic molecules and investigate the potential origin, evolution and distribution of life on Mars.

The infrared spectrometer that will analyse minerals on the surface, ISEM, might also be replaced with a spare model with better performance.

One of the cameras on top of the rover’s drill designed to acquire high-resolution and colour images of the rocks and soil around the rover – the Close-Up Imager, CLUPI – is having a software upgrade.

“The instruments were already in great shape, but having found the time to make these improvements is fantastic for our scientific mission on Mars,” says Jorge Vago, ESA’s ExoMars project scientist.

Parachutes ready for drop tests

New deployment bags for the parachutes of the ExoMars mission are cleared to go for final high-altitude drop tests. However, travel restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic have forced to postpone these tests from May to September 2020 at the earliest.

The dynamic extraction test campaign was a success. The updated design with eased lines and canopy exit proved to avoid tears at extraction velocities of 200 km/h, similar to the high speeds at which the parachutes will be pulled from their bags during the descent towards the surface of Mars.

 

ExoMars parachute extraction test in slow motion
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