Russia: Successfully launched rocket to search for life on Mars

(Baonghean.vn) - The Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft of the ExoMars Mission program was launched from Kazakhstan on the afternoon of Monday, March 14, local time, marking phase I of the program.

Simulated image of the Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft in action on Mars. (Source: The Verge)

The Trace Gas Orbiter’s mission is to search for evidence of methane and other gases in the Martian atmosphere. This will be the basis for proving the existence of life on the Red Planet. The Trace Gas Orbiter is expected to take about 7 months to enter the orbit of the Martian moon.

ExoMars is a joint Russian-European program to search for life on Mars. The first phase of the program will launch a probe into orbit around the Martian moon to measure trace amounts of gases such as methane and other gases such as water vapor, nitrogen oxides and acetylene.

Phase 2 of the Mars Mission is scheduled to launch in 2018 with the mission of sending an ExoMars Rover robot to the planet's surface to conduct geological analysis.

Thanh Hien

(According to CNN)