According to the famous planetary scientist Alexander Rodin, the destruction of the Schiaparelli spacecraft will not seriously affect the further fate of the joint project of Roscosmos and ESA ExoMars. At the same time, he noted that the development of landing on Mars was almost the only task of this apparatus.
'This module actually had no scientific purpose. This is a piece of iron, 'stressed Alexander Rodin.
The scientist explained that it is not so easy to safely descend to the Martian surface – the atmosphere of the Red Planet is rather rarefied, which prevents the deceleration of the spacecraft. That is why a minimum of scientific instruments was installed on the 'Schiaparrali'.
“It was a purely demonstration module for practicing the landing,” the planetary scientist concluded. “Much more important to us, the TGO is the main ship of the mission, has successfully entered Mars orbit and is ready to go. TGO is tasked with finding traces of methane and other gases in the atmosphere that will help judge the geological and biological processes taking place on the planet. '
Recall that the second stage of ExoMars is scheduled for 2020, when the Russian landing platform and the European rover will go to the neighboring celestial body. His task will include drilling soil to a depth of several meters, where traces of ancient or still existing organic life may have been preserved. At this time, until 2022, the TGO module will work on transmitting information from the European rover to Earth.
Sources: EG
