Post by account_disabled on Aug 30, 2023 9:13:44 GMT
That will fly around Mars and search for specific gases), and a robot that will land on the surface. The robot will not do much (it will, basically, serve as an environmental station for a few days), but it will be used to test technologies for another – and more exciting – step:
landing the ExoMars rover on the surface of Mars in January 2019. This Switzerland Mobile Number List rover will be able to drive around and look for biosignatures. It will be followed by another rover with this ability: NASA’s Mars 2020.
But on Mars, the environment is quite different from Earth. There is strong radiation, a different atmosphere, and different minerals that may interact with molecules of interest. Would this, over time, destroy biosignatures?
Would it modify their structures and signals? If so, we need a database of biosignatures that takes into account the Martian environment. Otherwise, we may not recognize life if it was (chemically) waving at us.
Generating this database on the ground is difficult. Yes, one can simulate some factors encountered beyond Earth, but some – for instance the radiation flux – cannot be mimicked accurately. That’s why investigations are conducted in space. BIOMEX is part of these investigations.
Station, in August 2015. Credit: ESA.
Installation of the experiment, outside the International Space Station, in August 2015. Credit: ESA.
BIOMEX (Biology and Mars Experiment) is an experiment conducted in the EXPOSE-R2 setup, a platform outside the International Space Station. It is led by Jean-Pierre de Vera, from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), together with a team from 27 institutes in 12 countries on three continents.
landing the ExoMars rover on the surface of Mars in January 2019. This Switzerland Mobile Number List rover will be able to drive around and look for biosignatures. It will be followed by another rover with this ability: NASA’s Mars 2020.
But on Mars, the environment is quite different from Earth. There is strong radiation, a different atmosphere, and different minerals that may interact with molecules of interest. Would this, over time, destroy biosignatures?
Would it modify their structures and signals? If so, we need a database of biosignatures that takes into account the Martian environment. Otherwise, we may not recognize life if it was (chemically) waving at us.
Generating this database on the ground is difficult. Yes, one can simulate some factors encountered beyond Earth, but some – for instance the radiation flux – cannot be mimicked accurately. That’s why investigations are conducted in space. BIOMEX is part of these investigations.
Station, in August 2015. Credit: ESA.
Installation of the experiment, outside the International Space Station, in August 2015. Credit: ESA.
BIOMEX (Biology and Mars Experiment) is an experiment conducted in the EXPOSE-R2 setup, a platform outside the International Space Station. It is led by Jean-Pierre de Vera, from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), together with a team from 27 institutes in 12 countries on three continents.
