B.B.C. Article
Europe begins Mars site selection
The European Space Agency (Esa) has published the "longlist" of eight sites it is considering as a destination for the ExoMars rover.
The 300kg vehicle will be put on the surface of the Red Planet in January 2019 to search for evidence of past or present life. It should operate for at least seven months and will carry a drill to probe up to 2m underground.
The sites are generally clustered in a relatively tight zone close to the equator. They are: Hypanis Vallis, Simud Vallis, Mawrth, Oxia Planum (x2), Coogoon Valles, Oxia Palus and Southern Isidis.
The ExoMars Landing Site Selection Working Group is meeting now in Madrid to begin the process of downselection. The teams that proposed these locations will make their case during the Spanish gathering (two, virtually identical proposals were received for Mawrth).

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B.B.C. Article
'Mars yard' to test European rover
Airbus has built a giant sand pit in Stevenage to mimic the surface of Mars.
The indoor terrain, about the size of a basketball court, will be used to test systems on the rover that Europe will send to the Red Planet in 2018.
ExoMars, as it is known, will be a six-wheeled robot tasked with finding signs of past or present life.
The UK division of Airbus Defence and Space will assemble the rover from parts built across member states of the European Space Agency (Esa).
But it has the specific role also of developing the vehicle's autonomous navigation system.

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Evolving wrote:I was just watching this on BBC iPlayer (a compilation of earlier Horizon programmes about the effort to find out stuff about Mars), and I learn that in 1964 Mariner IV went all that way, with state-of-the-art, mind-bogglingly expensive technology, for the sake of sending twenty-two black and white pictures of Mars back to Earth...

Evolving wrote:I was just watching this on BBC iPlayer (a compilation of earlier Horizon programmes about the effort to find out stuff about Mars), and I learn that in 1964 Mariner IV went all that way, with state-of-the-art, mind-bogglingly expensive technology, for the sake of sending twenty-two black and white pictures of Mars back to Earth.

Twenty-two snapshots!

Had they waited a bit till imaging technology had caught up somewhat, it would have been a great deal more worthwhile. But I suppose they couldn't imagine such progress on such a timescale.

B.B.C. Article

Europe and Russia delay ExoMars rover project to 2020
As expected, the European and Russian space agencies have delayed their next mission to Mars from 2018 to 2020.
It is a decision that has been well telegraphed in recent months, with both agency officials and industry chiefs expressing their doubts that all the hardware could be made ready in time.
The aim of the mission is to land a rover on the Red Planet.
Capable of drilling up to 2m below the surface, it would search for signs of past or present life.
It is the second part of the so-called ExoMars programme. The first part - a satellite to study the atmosphere of the planet - was launched successfully in March and should arrive in October.

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B.B.C. Article

Europe’s ExoMars rover in 'last chance saloon'
Europe's rover mission to Mars is "drinking in the last chance saloon", warns the European Space Agency's director general.
Jan Woerner has told reporters of his deep frustration that the project to put the robot on the surface of the Red Planet has been delayed yet again.
The venture could not have an open-ended schedule or budget, he said.
The ExoMars six-wheeled vehicle was originally destined to leave Earth in 2011, but will not now go until 2020.
Inability of teams to meet hardware delivery deadlines has been cited as the reason for the latest delay.
ExoMars is a two-step programme that is being developed jointly with the Russians.
The first part is a satellite to study the planet's atmosphere, and this was launched successfully in March.

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Evolving wrote:I was just watching this on BBC iPlayer (a compilation of earlier Horizon programmes about the effort to find out stuff about Mars), and I learn that in 1964 Mariner IV went all that way, with state-of-the-art, mind-bogglingly expensive technology, for the sake of sending twenty-two black and white pictures of Mars back to Earth.

Twenty-two snapshots!

Had they waited a bit till imaging technology had caught up somewhat, it would have been a great deal more worthwhile. But I suppose they couldn't imagine such progress on such a timescale.

B.B.C. Article
European Space Agency still backing Mars rover project
Member states of the European Space Agency have reaffirmed their commitment to launch a rover to Mars in 2020.
Meeting in Paris, delegations agreed to put the project, which has experienced serial delays, on to a fresh schedule.
They also injected an immediate extra sum of €77m (£59m), which will keep the ExoMars robot in development while a full and final solution to its financial problems is sought.
The aim is to have all matters resolved for a meeting of ministers in December.
Dr David Parker is the agency's director of human spaceflight and robotic exploration.
He told BBC News: "The challenges were set out to member states, and in the council meeting [on Wednesday] they were asked the fundamental questions: how important is this project; do you want to continue? And the very, very clear message came back that this remains a high priority for scientific and technological reasons."

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10:25 CEST: This morning, the final pre-arrival team briefing was held at ESOC for everyone involved in ExoMars. Teams at ESTEC and from industry listened in via audio conference. The briefing was held to review and confirm readiness for separation on 16 October and arrival at Mars on 19 October. ExoMars/TGO orbiter and Schiaparelli demonstration lander health/status? Both GO for arrival. Schiaparelli is GO for entry, descent, landing and surface operations. TGO is GO for Mars orbit insertion. At our ESOC mission control centre: Simulation training complete; teams from Flight Dynamics, Flight Control, the ESA ground stations, networks and systems are all GO. NASA ground stations have also confirmed readiness to support. ESA's ExoMars Project Manager Don McCoy said: "People have put their hearts into souls into this. We're ready to go. Thank you to everyone."

For separation, releasing a 577-kg lander will make TGO wobble. This could affect the very sensitive antenna pointing needed to ensure a full data link, so mission controllers will monitor progress only via the basic radio carrier signal, with the signal acting like a beacon. The separation wobble will be visible in the Doppler data associated with the carrier signal. With a one-way signal time of about 9 min and 45 secs, mission controllers will see a first indication of progress around 16:52 CEST. A full confirmation will come later (around 17:15 CEST) once controllers re-establish the full data link with the spacecraft.