Watch the Launch

Watch the Launch

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter & EDM Schiaparelli lander

Overview

Destination: Heliocentric N/A
Mission: Planetary Science

Heliocentric N/A 200/39 (200L) Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

This is the first part of ESA’s and Roscosmos’s Mars exploration programme (ExoMars). The launch in the 2016 Mars window will consist of an orbiter and lander and will take 7 months to travel to Mars. The Trace Gas Orbiter will search for trace gases in the atmosphere such as methane and hydrogen. The Schiaparelli lander will travel with the orbiter until each reaches Mars, where it will attempt to descend through the atmosphere and land on the surface. The lander only contains a small array of scientific instruments, to conduct experiments over 4 Martian days.

Proton-M Briz-M

Family:
Configuration: Briz-M

Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    1
  • Max Stage
    4
  • Length
    53.0 m
  • Diameter
    7.4 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    ―
  • Launch Mass
    712.0 T
  • Thrust
    10000.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Proton-M Briz-M
  • Family
    ―
  • Variant
    Briz-M
  • Alias
    ―
  • Full Name
    Proton-M Briz-M
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    ―
  • Low Earth Orbit
    21000.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    4500.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
    ―
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    ―

Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center

Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center

(KhSC)

Director: Andrey Vladimirovich Kalinovskiy Founded: 1916 Successes: 178 Failures: 15 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center is a Moscow-based producer of spacecraft and space-launch systems, including the Proton and Rokot rockets and is currently developing the Angara rocket family. The Proton launch vehicle launches from Baikonur and Rokot launches from Baikonur and Plesetsk. Angara will launch from Plesetsk and Vostochny.

INFO WIKI
ESA

A Mars-velous decade: Celebrating ten years of TGO

Ten years after arriving at Mars, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has grown far beyond its original ambitions. From revealing the martian atmosphere to becoming a vital communications link with the surface, the mission’s story is als…

ESA

Trace Gas Orbiter — Facts and figures

From the ESA Blogs.

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ESA’s Mars orbiters watch solar superstorm hit the Red Planet

What happens when a solar superstorm hits Mars? Thanks to the European Space Agency’s Mars orbiters, we now know: glitching spacecraft and a supercharged upper atmosphere.

SpaceDaily

ESA pinpoints 3I/ATLAS's path with data from Mars

Paris, France (ESA) Nov 14, 2025 Since comet 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar object, was discovered on 1 July 2025, astronomers worldwide have worked to predict its trajectory. ESA has now improved the comet's predicted locatio…

ESA

Dancing dust devils trace raging winds on Mars

From the ESA Blogs.

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

200/39 (200L)


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