Topographical overview map of Meridiani Planum
Topographical overview map of Meridiani Planum
On 19 October 2016, the Schiaparelli landing module will land on Mars in the Meridiani Planum highland region. It is part of the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars mission, the first part of which was launched on 14 March 2016 with the ‘Trace Gas Orbiter’. With the two-part ExoMars mission, scientists want to search for traces of organic life on Mars. The Schiaparelli landing demonstrator (Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module, EDM) will test various technologies and determine which ones will help the second part of the mission, ExoMars 2020 with the Pasteur Rover as scientific payload, make a safe landing: Materials for the thermal protection system, a parachute, a radar altimeter and a thruster system for the final landing phase.
