This image may not be used to state or imply ESA endorsement of any company or product ExoMars spacecraft launch. Proton launching the European Space

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This image may not be used to state or imply ESA endorsement of any company or product ExoMars spacecraft launch. Proton launching the European Space Agency's ExoMars spacecraft at 09:31 GMT (15:31 local time) on 14 March 2016, from the launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. This is a Proton-M ILV rocket, with a Breeze-M upper stage. This rocket launched the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli, the ExoMars Demonstrator Module (EDM) lander, into Earth orbit. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars in October 2016. TGO will look for methane in the Martian atmosphere. Schiaparelli will test landing technologies for the ExoMars rover (2018), and land scientific instruments to study surface conditions.

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Photo credit: © EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY/Stephane Corvaja/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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