ExoMars Work at Frenzied Pace To Make 2016 Launch Date

• Europe’s two-launch ExoMars mission to Mars in 2016 and 2018, which has run a budgetary obstacle course from the start, remains in dead lined-stressed mode with triple-shift work days on the eve of first mission’s  shipment to Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome to prepare for a March launch,government and industry officials said Nov. 24.

• Contrary to what several European Space Agency governments thought as they reluctantly financed the 1.2 billion-euro ($1.28 billion) Exo Mars project — Europe’s principal space exploration mission — the industrial team led by Thales Alenia Space has been able to keep to the schedule and save the 2016 launch date.

• A component defect discovered only this summer forced a slip in the schedule and the loss of the January launch window. But a backup date of March 14-25 has been secured on a Russian Proton rocket. Russia is ESA’s partner in ExoMars and is providing two Proton rockets for the launches, plus considerable scientific hardware for the 2018mission.

• The 2016 mission features a Mars orbiter that will test for trace gases in the atmosphere, plus a lander that will be carried by the orbiter and then ejected to operate for several days on Mars’ surface after having demonstrated the entry and landing capability aided by a supersonic parachute, also made in Europe.

• Pending several final system validations with ESA that Thales Alenia Space characterized as routine, the 2016 mission’s construction phase ends Dec. 10. Three Antonov cargo jets then will carry the more than 50,000 kilograms of Exo Mars gear from Turin, Italy, to Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan between Dec. 18 and Dec. 21.
• For now, ESA still needs to complete the financing for ExoMars. The 2018 mission is missing around 175 million euros and maybe more depending on how negotiations with the industrial team conclude hen will carry the more than 50,000 kilograms of Exo Mars gear from Turin, Italy, to Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan between Dec. 18 and Dec. 21.
• While all the small component builders are under contract to prevent schedule delays for the 2018 mission, the principal hardware development contract with Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space’s British division and OHB SE of Germany has not been signed Dec. 21.
• As was the case with the 2016 package, the 2018 mission, which includes much more Russian participation as well as a European rover vehicle, has little schedule margin. Already some are talking about a 2019 launch that would use a different route to Mars to arrive at about the same time.
  

Keywords-Dead lined-stressed mode with triple-shift work days,Russian Proton rocket,Thales Alenia Space Airbus Defence and Space’s British division and OHB SE of Germany.

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