14 DAY TRIAL // The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA have planned a joint mission for the Red Planet, which will see, among other things, a new orbiter being placed in orbit around Mars. Slated for lift off in 2016, the mission will include the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, an observations tool capable of conducting high-resolution observations of out neighboring planet's surface. One of the key instruments that will go on the orbiter will be the Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer (MATMOS). Recently, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced that it too will participate in constructing this intricate piece of equipment.
As such, the MATMOS will be developed by an international team of experts, featuring members from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California, and CSA. The goal here is to construct an instrument that is perfectly capable of discovering even minute sources of methane, especially if the gas is released from biological sources. To that end, the instrument will be essential for the discovery of life on Mars, if life indeed exists there, Space Fellowship reports.
“MATMOS will provide a fingerprint of the Mars atmosphere that will help unlock the mystery of Mars methane. The key is MATMOS’ very high sensitivity. It will be able to measure the distribution of methane and other trace gases in the atmosphere with altitude and season – where and when they appear will provide clues to the surface and climate processes that produce them. The potential for discovery is very exciting,” explains CSA senior planetary scientist Dr Victoria Hipkin. She will act as the co-principal investigator on the instrument, alongside colleague Dr Paul Wennber, who is based at Caltech, in Pasadena.
The ExoMars mission NASA and ESA agreed to collaborate on in July 2009 is one of the most complex space exploration concepts ever designed. The “Exobiology on Mars” project includes a static meteorological lander and the new orbiter, which will fly in 2016 aboard an Atlas V heavy-lift delivery system provided by NASA. In 2018, ESA will launch its giant ExoMars rover on another Atlas V rocket, also provided by NASA. The American space agency will also send the small Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C) rover to the Red Planet.