back to article ExoMars arrives at the Red Planet on Sunday

Grab some popcorn, space enthusiasts, because this coming weekend the joint European Space Agency/Roscosmos “ExoMars” mission will arrive at Mars. ExoMars broke the surly bonds of Earth last March and has since proven itself capable of taking photos and sending them home on a 2 Mbit/s link. Now for the hard part. The mission …

  1. Unep Eurobats
    Boffin

    “crushable structure”

    That's a big pile of cardboard boxes, stuntman stylee.

    1. DNTP

      Re: “crushable structure”

      see also: "Lithobraking"

      1. ravenviz Silver badge
        Thumb Down

        Re: “crushable structure”

        See also "litter"

  2. frank ly

    re. the surly bonds of Earth

    You can't break them. The technique is to 'slip' them. I think it involves a shimmy at the last minute.

    1. Ugotta B. Kiddingme

      Re: re. the surly bonds of Earth

      You might also try throwing yourself at the ground, hoping to miss. I've read that sometimes works.

      1. choleric

        Re: re. the surly bonds of Earth

        That's where the wavefunction stuff ruins the fun the particle stuff would let you have.

    2. DNTP

      Re: re. the surly bonds of Earth

      I just say the safe word(s) to escape the bonds of my gravitational mistress.

      "PATCH CONIC APPROXIMATION"

  3. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Looking forward to the results. Nice to see these collaboration between scientists originally (i.e. when I was a teenager) in rival programmes.

  4. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Go

    An exciting time for Mars studies.

    "Crushable structure" is more like the papiemache honeycombs eggs are packed in.

    1. Simon Harris
      Pirate

      Re: An exciting time for Mars studies.

      That's what happens when you launch a joint mission with Blue Peter.

      There isn't a Blue Peter flag in the icons, so I'll have to make do with a Jolly Roger ----------->

  5. cray74

    Nuuukes

    The lander was initially offered a 100-Watt RTG by Roscosmos that would've let Schiaparelli work for a year, but Russia's export regulations were so complicated and tortuous that they switched to a battery for 2-8 days of operations. I thought dealing with US ITAR regulations were bad.

  6. imanidiot Silver badge
    Alien

    Lets hope for the best

    And hope Roscosmos's Mars Mission Curse doesn't strike.

    Or that we don't get a massive fine for littering in 3 months. "We're just fine with you sending your cute robotic carts our way, but this dumping of tat has to stop!"

  7. Youngone Silver badge

    Humidity?

    Humidity seems like an odd thing to measure on a planet with not much atmos.

    I know there must be some, but it's not something I would have thought to measure.

    Not that I'm a rocket surgeon.

    1. cray74

      Re: Humidity?

      Atmospheric water on Mars is plentiful enough to make clouds and is involved in the seasonal atmospheric carbon dioxide evaporation / condensation cycles. However, since it's pretty scarce, in situ measurements of atmospheric water would be helpful.

  8. NanoMeter

    I feel like an astrogasm coming.

  9. Denarius
    Thumb Up

    Lets hope it works

    better than some European Mars probes. Pity about the RTG though. Another triumph for the bureaucrats.

  10. Faux Science Slayer

    Dr John Brandenburg on Mars Nuclear Weapons

    High concentrations of Xenon isotopes that only occurs from fusion-fission bombs....

    coupled with glazed crater indicate alien attack on Mars stone age culture....

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