Schiaparelli – view from beneath
Date: 20 June 2016
Satellite: Schiaparelli
Copyright: ESA/ATG medialab
Artist's impression of Schiaparelli, the ExoMars entry, descent and landing demonstrator module.
Schiaparelli will provide Europe with the technology for landing on the surface of Mars with a controlled landing orientation and touchdown velocity.
The module is approximately 1.65 m in diameter (2.4 m with heat shield) and 1.8 m high.
The design of Schiaparelli maximises the use of technologies already in development within the ExoMars programme. These include: special material for thermal protection, a parachute system, a radar Doppler altimeter system (the four antennas of the radar can be seen in the centre of this image), and a final braking system (3 clusters of 3 thrusters) controlled by liquid propulsion.
The Doppler radar is used to measure the altitude and to compute the horizontal velocity over the terrain — both of these inputs are necessary to command the use of the thrusters.
Further details of the entry, descent and landing sequence can be found here.
