IA/U.Lisboa Seminar - From Mars Express to ExoMars: Why is Mars so important? - 07 dezembro 2018

This year 2018 is very important for the Mars scientific community in Europe since for the first time two European missions coincide around the orbit of Mars, opening a great opportunity for collaboration to improve our understanding of our neighbor planet. But why is Mars so important to capture the attention of the scientists and public? 

We will present a summary of the main scientific questions still open around Mars, starting with an overview of the Mars Express in its 15th anniversary, with the main scientific discoveries and the new challenges for the next years. We will then describe the ExoMars programme with the Trace Gas Orbiter mission that is now fully operational and performing the first science observations, with very interesting results that are now being analysed and will be presented very soon. 

We will also summarize the work done at the European Space and Astronomy Centre to coordinate the science operations of these missions and promote the collaboration between all the science teams, with some detail on the observations that can be combined to improve the scientific outcome of both missions.