ESA's ExoMars Missions That Are Searching For Life On The Red Planet (4K UHD)

For thousands of years, humans have carefully observed our neighbouring planet, Mars, as it slowly moves across the night sky as a glimmering red dot. But it wasn't until the 1960s that we developed the technology that would allow us to visit the planet and begin to unravel its deepest secrets. Since the Mariner 4 probe completed the first successful flyby of Mars in 1965, a further 55 missions have attempted to explore the Martian world. Because of these groundbreaking missions, scientists are slowly uncovering the red planet's greatest mysteries, such as whether vast oceans once covered parts of its surface, and how it became the barren desert world that it is today. But the most tantalising question of them all still remains unsolved. Is there life on Mars? And that is exactly what ESA's ExoMars missions are trying to find out. In order to make this video, I have teamed up with the European Space Agency, who have provided me with the relevant information regarding their exciting ExoMars programme. The ExoMars programme is a two-phase, European-led mission that was set up to investigate the Martian environment, with the goal of establishing whether life ever existed on the surface of the planet. The first phase arrived at Mars in October 2016 and consisted of the Trace Gas Orbiter, along with a separate component known as the Schiaparelli. The Trace Gas Orbiter, or TGO for short, is designed to study atmospheric trace gases, such as methane, while Schiaparelli was an entry, descent and landing demonstrator, containing a small payload of sensors that were designed to study the Martian atmosphere and the environment around its landing site. During its entry and descent, Schiaparelli was able to collect useful scientific and engineering data, but it also transmitted the data in real-time to its mothership, the TGO, which had never been achieved before, making it an historical moment in Mars exploration. Unfortunately, Schiaparelli malfunctioned during the final moments of its landing attempt and crashed into the Martian surface. But its mothership, TGO, successfully entered into orbit around Mars and is in perfect working order. One of the Trace Gas Orbiter's primary goals is to gain a better understanding of methane and other gases that are present in small concentrations within the Martian atmosphere. Methane, for example, is a gas that could indicate the possible existence of life below the barren landscape of Mars, and it has been sporadically detected by Earth-based telescopes, ESA's Mars Express Orbiter and NASA's Curiosity rover, implying that there is a potentially active source. Because methane can be destroyed by solar radiation over hundreds of years, any detection of the elusive gas in present times indicates that it must have been released relatively recently, perhaps from ancient underground reservoirs. However, the discovery of methane does not necessarily mean that it's coming from a biological source, as the gas can also be produced from geological activity. But it is an exciting possibility that buried under the dirt of the Red Planet could be pockets of methane that was generated by Martian microbes and released into the atmosphere at a much later time. ESA's TGO isn't just studying the Martian atmosphere, it will also serve as a communication relay for the second phase of the mission that is scheduled to be launched in July 2020. This phase involves a surface platform that will study the Red Planet's environment and a rover that will travel across the Martian surface, collecting samples and searching for life. The rover is equipped with a payload of instruments, including a drill that can penetrate up to two meters below the surface, making it the first automated robot to move across the barren landscape and study the Martian underground. Billions of years ago, Mars was a warm and wet planet. Conditions back then may have been just right for life. But over time, a sequence of events stripped the world, transforming it into a barren landscape. If life did ever exist on Mars, it probably arose not long after the Red Planet's formation and the exciting ExoMars missions will hopefully find evidence of this, below the planet's dry and dusty surface. If you would like to find out more about the ExoMars missions, then please head on down to the description and click on the ESA links provided. There you will be able to discover interesting articles, immersive animations and incredible images, plus much more. Thank you so much for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video and I'll see you next time.