ExoMars Failed The Second Parachute Test, Endangering ESA’s 2020 Mars Mission

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News about the ESA’s ExoMars second parachute test failure surfaced quickly, showing possible threats for the European 2020 Mars mission. What could we expect further from this project we are going to find out next.

To understand better the ExoMars planet, we must acknowledge its primary goal. Firstly, it is built by a shared operation between the Russian and the European space companies, Roscosmos and ESA. The companies created the project as a two-part mission, the first of that already happened in 2016.

However, the mission had the purpose of putting a craft, the Trace Gas Orbiter, into Martian area and brought back the Schiaparelli lander to the Earth. The craft succeeded to do that and it still collecting data, and Schiaparelli, on the other hand, arrived on the Mars surface, resulting in a lander part of the mission before it could have a chance to begin.

ExoMars Failed The Second Parachute Test, Endangering ESA’s 2020 Mars Mission

The mission’s second half is ready to be launched next year. Until then, a prime low-altitude test of the first parachute showed how well was done, followed by a recent disappointing high-altitude test. With NASA maintaining its Mars, multiple landings, ESA and Roscomos aim at its success.

Looking into the second phase of the ExoMars’s mission, we understand the fact that it is made of a Russian-built lander, Kazachick, and a European-formed rover, the Rosalind Franklin. The two of them will descend as one entity. Also, its parachute is the biggest flown on any Mars project, being at 115 feet across, and recording a successful low-attitude test in March 2018.

The 2019 tests, however, brought nothing but a disappointing situation because of their development. The two parachutes launched from 18 miles failed, threating the whole ExoMars mission. Scientists, however, will gather together during a September workshop, to analyze better the situation and to bring improvements.

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