The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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The 2018 ExoMars mission will be launched by a Proton rocket on a nine-month journey to Mars. A Russian descent module will carry a Russian surface platform and ESA’s ExoMars rover through the atmosphere.
After landing, the rover, which is about the size of a golf buggy, will leave the platform to travel several kilometres across the martian surface to search for signs of life.
The rover is fitted with a drill, a first in Mars exploration, and will extract samples from various depths, down to a maximum of two metres.
Underground samples are more likely to contain well-preserved organic material, particularly from the early history of the planet since the very thin atmosphere of Mars today offers little protection from space radiation and photochemistry at the surface.
Once collected, each sample will be delivered to a number of instruments in the rover’s analytical laboratory, which will determine its mineralogy and chemistry.
ESA’s ExoMars rover will be the first mission to combine the capability to move across the surface and to study Mars at depth.