The Orbiter and EDM will be launched together in January 2016 on a Proton rocket and will fly to Mars in a mated configuration. By taking advantage of the positioning of Earth and Mars the cruise phase can be limited to about 9 months. Three days before reaching the atmosphere of Mars, the EDM will be ejected from the Orbiter towards the Red Planet. The EDM capsule will then coast towards its destination, entering the Martian atmosphere and landing on the surface of the planet. The ExoMars Orbiter will be inserted into an elliptical orbit around Mars and then sweep through the atmosphere to finally settle into a circular, ~ 400-km altitude orbit ready to conduct its scientific mission.
IKI develops two instruments for TGO scientific payload:
- Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) complex for spectrometry. It includes three spectrometers (echelle spectrometers for near- and mid-infrared range (ACS-NIR and ACS-MIR) and Fourier spectrometer(ACS-TIRVIM)) and data storing system (ACS-BE). Principal Investigator: Oleg Korablev, Space Research Institute (IKI), Moscow, Russia.
- Fine Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector (FREND) to register neutrons coming from Martian surface as a result of interactions with galactic and solar cosmic rays and to map water ice distribution with high spatial resolution. FREND includes a dosimetry module to estimate, how much of radiation dose on the orbit around Mars comes from neutrons. Principal Investigator: Igor Mitrofanov, Space Research Institute (IKI), Moscow, Russia.
Both instruments use a legacy of previous successful experiments onboard European (Mars Express, Venus Express) and American (Mars Odyssey, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Curiosity) missions.
ACS and FREND instruments are currently in the final stage of development and are getting ready for delivery to ESA.
Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) for ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter (c) IKI
Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) for ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter (c) IKI
Fine Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector (FREND) for ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter (c) IKI
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