6 Dec 2016

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has imaged the martian moon Phobos as part of a second set of test science measurements made since it arrived at the Red Planet on 19 October.
The Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), a joint endeavour between ESA and Roscosmos, made its first scientific calibration measurements during two orbits between 20 and 28 November.

Example data from the first orbit were published last week, focusing on Mars itself. During the second orbit, the instruments made a number of measurements of Phobos, a moon that orbits Mars at a distance of only 6000 km.
The camera imaged the moon on 26 November from a distance of 7700 km, during the closest part of the spacecraft’s orbit around Mars. TGO’s elliptical orbit currently takes it to within 230–310 km of the surface at its closest point and around 98 000 km at its furthest every 4.2 days.

A colour composite has been created from several individual images taken through several filters. The camera’s filters are optimised to reveal differences in mineralogical composition.
«We’re very happy with the results of both test science orbits and will be using these calibration data to improve our measurements once we begin the main science mission later next year» adds Håkan Svedhem, ESA’s TGO Project Scientist.

Notes: The ExoMars programme is the result of cooperation between the European Space Agency (ESA), the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The ExoMars 2016 mission consists of an orbiter, the TGO (Trace Gas Orbiter), assembled at the Thales Alenia Space site in Cannes, with three scientific instruments and a high-resolution camera on board, and of a descent module, the EDM (Entry descent landing Demonstrator Module), which was assembled at the Turin site, equipped with scientific instruments for the physical and meteorological characterization of the atmosphere of Mars, a laser reflector and a video camera that is active during descent.

Leonardo-Finmeccanica also contributed to ExoMars 2016, providing star trackers, photovoltaic panels, electronic supply units and the optronic heart of the video camera, CASSIS. Leonardo is also developing the diamond-drill that will set off in 2020 to dig into the surface of Mars to a depth of 2 metres, in search of traces of life.
Lastly, Telespazio (Leonardo-Finmeccanica 67%, Thales 33%) is responsible, through the subsidiary Telespazio VEGA Deutschland, for the development of several key systems of the earth segment of the mission.