WATCH LIVE NOW! ExoMars Mars Landing Webcast by ESA

The European Space Agency will have live coverage of the ExoMars lander's touchdown on Mars in a series of webcasts. First, a Social TV program will cover the arrival and landing from 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) and will be off an on ahead of ESA's main program. The main program follows in two parts, one from11:44 a.m. – 12:59 p.m. EDT (1544–1659 GMT) and the other from 2:25 – 4:03 p.m. EDT (1825–2003 GMT). The webcasts are among a series of broadcasts by ESA to chronicle the ExoMars arrival. You can watch the webcast directly from ESA here and in the window below. Preview Story: High Stakes: Europe Aims for 1st Successful Mars Landing Today

ExoMars at Mars

Three days before arriving at Mars on 19 October 2016, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will release its entry, descent and landing demonstrator, Schiaparelli, towards the Red Planet. ExoMars is several missions in one. Its orbiter is a science and relay mission. The TGO will search for evidence of gases, such as methane, that may be associated with geological or biological processes. The Schiaparelli lander is a technology demonstrator to test key technologies for future missions

Mars arrival orbits

This animation shows the relative orbital paths of ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), the Schiaparelli Entry, descent and landing Demonstrator Module and ESA's Mars Express on 19 October 2016, when TGO and Schiaparelli arrive at Mars. At the start of the animation, TGO and Schiaparelli are shown already separated, which is set to occur at 14:42 GMT (16:42 CEST) on 16 October. The animation covers the time period between approximately 12:30 GMT (14:30 CEST) and 19:00 GMT (21:00 CEST)




Schiaparelli’s descent to Mars

Visualisation of the ExoMars Schiaparelli module entering and descending through the martian atmosphere to land on Mars. Schiaparelli will enter the atmosphere at about 21 000 km/h and in less than six minutes it will use a heatshield, a parachute and thrusters to slow its descent before touching down in the Meridiani Planum region close to the equator, absorbing the final contact with a crushable structure. The entire process will take less than six minutes: 

http://livestream.com