This documentry was produced by Imperative Space for the UK Space Agency in 2015. The film follows a range of scientists and engineers from a variety of fields, principally in the UK, working on instruments and research for the ExoMars Rover mission, and the precursor 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter mission. The film reveals the science, technology, engineering and planning involved in missions of this complexity, and explains the aims of the missions and the obstacles they will need to overcome.
ExoMars is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), (of which the UK Space Agency is a part), and the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos. The first stage of ExoMars, the Trace Gas Orbitor, launched in 2016 and was placed into Mars orbit. The second part is the ExoMars rover, which has now been re-named as the Rosalind Franklin rover, after the English chemist and DNA pioneer. The rover was originally due to be launched in 2018 but will now launch in July 2020 .
ExoMars is part of ESA's Aurora programme, a robotic and human exploration programme which was established in 2001 to formulate and then to implement a European long-term plan for exploration of the solar system, to investigate bodies holding promise for traces of life beyond Earth.
The 10 short films can also be found on the STEM elearning website.
For the latest news about ExoMars visit the ESA pages here.
Imperative Space is a multi-faceted Space, Media and Education company. They deploy world-class capabilities in creative services, marketing communications and education, to support growth in the space sector and communicate the value of space industries and space-related research to the wider public.
Imperative Space also produces MOOCs and online learning projects. You can find out more information about this work at ImperativeMOOCs.com.
