"It's basically a technology demonstration practice, which we exercise the full process of entry, descent and landing", said ExoMars 2016 project scientist Hakan Svedhem, with the European Space Agency.
"Proving that life exists or has existed on Mars would show that Earth is not unique in terms of having life on it", said Rolf de Groot, director of the ESA's Robotic Exploration Coordination Office.
Originally it was supposed to have been a partnership between ESA and Nasa, but the American space agency dropped out in 2012 because of budget cuts.
The spacecraft consists of both an orbiter and a lander, with the former being used to take measurements of Mars' methane levels and other gases, while the latter will study dust storms from the ground.
Crucially methane vanishes on Mars after a few hundred years so it must have been produced in the recent past.
TGO and Schiaparelli are due to launch aboard a Russian Proton rocket at 5:31 a.m. EDT Monday (Daylight Savings Time starts on Sunday) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Living creatures generate the vast majority of the methane in Earth's air, and the gas is therefore regarded as a promising "biosignature" that could be an indication of Mars life.
The question is: By what?
As the ESA explains, "The 2016 [phase] will act as a relay for the 2018 mission.
Around the same time, the Trace Gas Orbiter will swing into orbit around Mars, beginning a five-year mission focused on mapping the planet's surface, searching for water ice deposits, and confirming the presence of methane in the atmosphere, a key indicator of ongoing biological or geological activity.
Microbial life has been found to live more than one mile beneath the surface of the Witwatersrand basin in South Africa so scientists are sure microbes could survive below the permafrost layer on Mars.
It is also carrying with it Schiaparelli - a "demonstrator" module to test heat shields and parachutes in preparation for a subsequent rover landing on Mars. At that point, Schiaparelli will separate and then coast toward Mars, still in hibernation to conserve power.
"Methane is very interesting for us as it may give us a clue as to whether there has been life on Mars", said Dr Patel.
The Proton rocket is the first of two ExoMars missions created to uncover signs of past or present life on the Red Planet, taking approximately seven months to reach its destination.
Many scientists have narrowed the discovery down to two possibilities: That the methane could stem from micro-organisms known as methanogenes, that became extinct millions of years ago and left gas frozen below the planet's surface, or that some methane-producing organisms still exist.
TGO sets the stage for a more ambitious mission to directly search for life.
Thursday Apple Rumors: 9.7-Inch iPad Case Hints at New FeaturesIt will be coming with a 9.7-inch display that and the device will be powered by Apple A9X chipset and 4 GB of RAM . It is now believed that the iconic 12.9-inch iPad Pro will get a smaller sibling with 9.7-inch display .
Source: Mars probe departs this week on joint European-Russian study
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