Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, announced today the postponement until 2020 of the second mission ExoMars, a joint project with the European Space Agency (ESA) to search for evidence of life on Mars.
The second mission of the joint project, initially scheduled for 2018, was postponed due to delays in the European and Russian space industry, as well as mutual supplies scientific equipment, Roscosmos said.
The Russian space agency, stressing that this is a joint decision with the ESA said that under these conditions the postponement is "optimal solution" to carry out the project.
The Russian-European mission ExoMars 2016 launched on March 14 from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan) and is scheduled to arrive at Mars in October, when the spacecraft will be divided into two parts.
Trace Gas Orbiter satellite (TGO) will be devoted to studying the gases of the Martian atmosphere, while the Schiaparelli module will touch down on the surface of that planet to validate landing technology for the second phase of the program, ExoMars 2020.
At this stage, it will be sent to Mars a vehicle capable of digging in the ground to an unprecedented depth of up to two meters. EFE