The state corporation Roskosmos announces that the launch dates for the ExoMars-2020 apparatus for exploring the Red Planet have been revised.
Recall that the ExoMars project is being implemented in two stages. During the first phase, in 2016, a vehicle, including the TGO orbiter and the Schiaparelli descent module, went to Mars. The first successfully operates in orbit, and the second crashed.
The second stage involves sending a Russian landing platform with a European rover on board to the Red Planet. Alas, testing of the systems of this module occurs with problems. So, recently the model of the ExoMars-2020 station during tests of the parachute system.
It is reported that the next test of the parachute system will be carried out before the end of this year. In addition, tests are planned to be carried out in early 2020.
It was originally planned that the ExoMars-2020 apparatus would be launched on July 25 next year. However, now it is said that the start has been postponed to a later date.
βThe launch of the ExoMars-2020 mission is scheduled within the βastronomical windowβ on July 26-August 13, 2020 with an arrival on Mars in March 2021. After leaving the landing platform, the Rosalind Franklin rover will begin exploring the surface of Mars, searching for objects of interest from a geological point of view and drilling the subsurface layer in order to search for traces of the existence of life on a neighboring planet at any time.
Source: 3dnews.ru