From the end of January, the TGO spacecraft moved into a new highly elliptical orbit known as the Mars Capture Orbit. The orbit is inclined to the equator by almost 74 degrees, so the spacecraft passes over the north and south polar regions of Mars once per Martian day
by Elin Boyko
The scientific instruments on board the Russian-European Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) launched as part of the "Exo-Mars - 2016" operation will conduct the second series of scientific observations in a highly elliptical orbit around Mars. The main goal - calibration of the scientific instruments.
The first tests were carried out on February 28 and March 1, follow-up observations are planned for March 5 to 7. Starting on March 15, the spacecraft will begin braking operations using the atmosphere to move to a more rounded orbit and the instruments will be turned off. This is the first activation of the scientific instruments after an experimental activation at the end of November 2016, immediately after the spacecraft arrived in orbit around Mars. The main purpose of these launches were calibration, and tests to see if the spacecraft was aimed correctly. At this time, the spacecraft was in the initial high-elliptical orbit that barely overlapped the equator.
From the end of January, the TGO spacecraft moved into a new highly elliptical orbit known as the Mars Capture Orbit. The orbit is inclined to the equator by almost 74 degrees, so the spacecraft passes over the north and south polar regions of Mars.
In this orbit, the spacecraft orbits Mars once a day from Adamhi or Sol (which is equal to 24 hours 39 minutes 35 seconds). The phrygia - the lower part of the route is at an altitude of about 200 km and the apogee
At an altitude of 37,150 km.
The instruments on board the TGO spacecraft include the following components
- Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery (NOMAD) which observes Mars with two infrared and one violet channels developed in Belgium. and the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS), which includes three infrared spectrometer channels developed by Russia. Both NOMAD and ACS will provide the most comprehensive spectral coverage of the Martian atmosphere to date. Twice per cycle, at sunrise and sunset, they will be able to observe the Sun When it's rays penetrate through the atmosphere, it will be possible to detect residual gases in the order of parts per billion.
- The Color and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) is a stereoscopic camera with a high resolution of 4.5 meters per pixel. The camera is designed to build an elevation model of the surface of Mars. It will also serve as an important tool for characterizing interesting landing zones for future missions. This tool was developed in Switzerland.
- Neutron detector The Fine-Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector (FREND) is a neutron detector capable of providing information on the presence of hydrogen in the form of water or hydrated minerals up to a depth of one meter in the Martian soil. This tool was developed in Russia.
- The main goal of the experiment - searching for small components in the atmosphere - gases in very small concentrations, that is, raw materials, which are very small concentrations (number of particles per billion or even less), and first and foremost methane, which can be a marker of biological activity on the surface of the planet.
On March 15, the beginning of the phase of air braking with the help of the atmosphere will take place, which will last until the spacecraft reaches a circular orbit at a height that is currently the lowest part of its orbit, about 400 km above the ground. When she reaches this circular path she will be able to start operating regularly.
"Exo-Mars" is a joint operation of the Russian space agency - Roscosmos and the European Space Agency to investigate Mars, its territory, atmosphere and climate from orbit and on its surface. It will open a new phase in space exploration for Europe and Russia.
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Avi,
In a slightly strange Pavlovian way, every time they talk about some kind of research project in space, some self-righteous purists jump up and scream about "such a tremendous waste". Even when the "waste" is done by another government (in this case the European Union and Russia), and not at all from their private tax money. Those loyal friends of the poor around the world never jump like snakebites when a country hosts the Olympics (Rio de Janeiro: $14.4 billion, Beijing: $44 billion, London: £8.9 billion), or the World Cup, or the Eurovision Song Contest . Most of the funds are indeed not invested in sustainable infrastructures and are not really covered by ticket sales or broadcast rights, but still dwarf every single space operation, and even reach the size of the Apollo program by itself ($136 billion according to the value of money today). So it's very easy to digest, apparently.
So like this: NASA's budget is half a percent of the US defense budget, just for the sake of proportion. There is no money problem in the world. There is only a problem of reluctance and willingness to solve the hunger problems of all the unfortunate people in the world, there is a political problem of reluctance to get involved with foreign and evil governments, reluctance to be drawn into regional conflicts with crazy militias like the Americans managed to do in Somalia in the nineties, reluctance to become a "power A conquering colonialist" in the consciousness of the global politically correct left. Despite this, there is no shortage of aid money for the backward countries, and there is no shortage of foodstuffs, which just need to be distributed. It's just that they don't know exactly how without paying every guerilla organization in the area and without spending most of the budget on the aid workers themselves. Therefore, Somalia will continue to be Somalia, North Korea will continue to starve its citizens and threaten world peace, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Central African countries will continue to spread refugees everywhere.
But of course it's too complicated. It's easier to yell at every spacecraft that performs some scientific mission. It is much more psychologically profitable to ignore the essence of the scientific information these spacecraft bring. To seal off the mind from all the economic benefits of the investing countries: employing hundreds of scientists, engineers and production workers in jobs on the planet, developing technologies that remain and benefit the developing countries, the spillover of technology to local industries and even - developing technologies that may improve the lives of the oppressed in the unfortunate corners of the world.
There are countless examples of the benefits that have already been derived from the space industry, but come on, I have no illusions that you can be convinced.
As long as there are people on earth who have nothing to chew on, it's hard for me to chew and digest such a colossal waste, for nothing, even in the name of science.
The whole purpose of exploring Mars is just to find life or traces of life there.
All trackers on this satellite are designed for this purpose directly or indirectly.
Doesn't mean it's not important to know this, very important, very interesting...especially for the philosophical debates about the possibility of inventing extraterrestrial life, but the investment is beyond all proportion especially that at that time in one quarter of the Earth people were dying of hunger due to drought, that this money was It can be solved easily, and in other places because of diseases and medicines for which no budget can be found for their development as above.
my father
What is clear is that there are too many fools on earth...
Avi,
I carefully examined all the components of the scientific equipment on the spacecraft, and I did not find any God sensor on it, so it is quite clear that it will not be able to solve the problem of whether there is a God on Mars. Regarding what can be done with these findings, then I guess that you are right, and if you can't chew on it then it's really pointless.
All this money, and the tremendous effort just to know if there are or ever were bacteria on Mars?
And if we find that there are bacteria, then is that proof that there is no God or something like that? And if so, and if not, what will it change and what will we do with this knowledge?
With all due respect to the space programs and science, aren't there more important things to invest all this money in?
And I wouldn't ask the question if the goal was to settle people on Mars so that it would somehow help the future of humanity.
But it turns out that this is not the goal of this huge investment, the goal is only to decide the philosophical, political, and populist debate, about the creation and the formation of life, there is a God, there is no God, who has a bigger one, the Communists or the Lutherans.