Search for life on Mars in starting blocks

- At 17:45 Dutch time will show whether the Europeans finally succeeded: land on Mars. Space scientists hold their breath. ESA sends live pictures from: You can follow the show on Telegraaf.nl.

17. For 40 hours the Mars Lander Schiaparelli Wednesday will come off the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). Five minutes later, the lander will- if all goes well- land on Mars. Main purpose of the landing of the Schiaparelli- named after the 19th century Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli who made detailed maps of Mars- is to demonstrate that Europeans are able to put a probe on Mars in one piece. Final ESA hopes 2020 a robber, a six-wheel truck, to put on the Martian surface that research should be on the red planet.

The current ESA ExoMars mission simply consists of two parts. The drop of the Schiaparelli on the Martian surface is meant to refine the landing procedure and to measure the electric field for upcoming missions. The lander hardly conducts research. The other part is put into position by artificial satellite Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) running circles around the red planet and whose main objective is to analyze the atmosphere around Mars, looking for life.

The landing is a historic step: then Mars is no longer the playground of only succeed the Americans, but also connect the ESA to.

Europe has once previously tried to land on Mars. That attempt, the Beagle 2 in December 2003, was a failure. The scout has never let hear from him. He was found only eleven years later. The solar panels were not open, so the antenna remained hidden.