The ESA hopes to gain a lot more insight into Mars. It thinks conditions on Mars are similar to those on Earth when life began. It also wants to probe for any pre-existing life.
Jorge Vago talked about the ExoMars Project, “The trace gas orbiter is really looking at active processes ongoing on Mars today and life, present life, is one of the possible explanations. So, it will really be a Sherlock Holmes work to try to put together a case for whether it’s geological or biological activity that is responsible for the methane.”
The ESA is running a two-part mission. Six month back a lander crashed on Mars. Now scientists are putting hopes into an orbiter that just arrived to study Mars’s atmosphere.
They are also preparing a rover with advanced capability for a 2020 mission to Mars.
