ExoMars Takes Off

On the 11th of March 2016 the Proton Rocket, that will lift the first ExoMars Satellite and lander from the Earth and transport to Mars, was taken to the launch site in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is a large country south of Russia which has been the best place for Russian and European space launches since the very first rocket Sputnik in 1957, although at that time it was part of the Soviet Union and known as Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

Watch the ExoMars 2016 Lift Off

On the 17th of March 2016 Lewis and Addison from Christchurch School C.P. School (christchurchcpschool.co.uk) built a Lego Model of a crane, similar to the one used to lift the Russian rocket containing the ExoMars Satellite and lander, while learning about Robotics and Coding.

This week at 9:31 GMT on 14-March-2016 the first of the ExoMars Spacecraft was launched from Baikonur on a four-stage Proton-M/Breeze-M rocket, provided by Roscosmos. The Mission features two parts a Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli a lander due to arrive on Mars on the 19th of October 2016.

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ExoMars Journey to Mars

The TGO and Schiaparelli will travel by Hohmann transfer orbit, which you can visualise at home by connecting two different size circles with the same central point with an ellipse, or watch the video below.

Whats Next for ExoMars

The Future of the ExoMars Mission will include a rover that may even be controlled by Astronauts on the International Space Station, watch the video below or visit exploration.esa.Int.

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