The Geophysics Environmental Package of the ExoMars Mission

Abstract

ExoMars will be the first Mission in the ESA Aurora Program, and is to be launched to Mars in 2013. The payload is currently foreseen to be distributed between a rover and a stationary, long-living Geophysics Environmental Package (GEP). The GEP has been proposed with a core payload consisting of a seismometer, a meteorological package, an atmospheric probe, a heat flow and physical properties package, and a magnetometer. Additional payload elements were undergoing the ESA coordinated ExoMars Payload Confirmation Review. A final payload selection is foreseen in the frame of the ExoMars Implementation Review, June 2007. The GEP will be integrated into the Lander platform and consists of several units containing the necessary support equipment (power system, central data management system, communications units, thermal control system) as well as the instruments and deployment mechanisms. The proposed system design is based on a solar generator and radiothermal heaters to allow long term (>2 years) operations on the surface of Mars. The landing areas for the mission are currently foreseen between 15° South and 45° Northern latitude, leading to a challenging power design, keeping in mind the extreme cases in winter, combined with the assumed dust environment. The GEP will be contributed to the ESA-ExoMars Mission by an international consortium, under German lead and with major contributions from France, Denmark, Belgium and the UK.