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Kazachok
A planned Mars lander, part of ExoMars programme

The ExoMars Kazachok was a planned robotic Mars lander led by Roscosmos, part of the ExoMars 2022 joint mission with the European Space Agency. Kazachok translates as "Little Cossack", and is also the name of an East Slavic folk dance.

The plan called for a Russian Proton-M rocket to launch the Russian-built lander that to deliver the Rosalind Franklin rover to the surface of Mars. Once safely landed, Kazachok would have deployed the rover and start a one Earth-year mission to investigate the surface environment at the landing site.

The spacecraft was scheduled to launch in 2020 and land on Mars in mid 2021, but due to the failure of the entry parachutes to pass testing, the launch was moved to 20 September 2022.

In March 2022, amidst the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Space Agency voted to suspend their cooperation with Russia on the ExoMars mission.

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Scientific instruments

The Kazachok lander project was led by Roscosmos, but its scientific payload would also have included two European instruments and European contributions to four Russian-led instruments. The payload mass was to be about 45 kg and consists of the following instruments (plus an instrument interface and memory unit (BIP)):78

  • The Lander Radioscience experiment (LaRa) would study the internal structure of Mars and help to understand the sublimation/condensation cycle of atmospheric CO2, and would make precise measurements of the rotation and orientation of the planet by monitoring two-way Doppler frequency shifts between the lander and Earth.9 It would have also detected variations in angular momentum due to the redistribution of masses, such as the migration of ice from the polar caps to the atmosphere. Developed by Belgium.
  • The Habitability, Brine, Irradiation and Temperature (HABIT) package would investigate the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere, daily and seasonal variations in ground and air temperatures, and the UV radiation environment. Developed by Sweden.
  • Meteorological package (MTK). Led by Russia. The package would incorporate the following sensors:
    • Pressure and humidity sensors (METEO-P, METEO-H).10 Developed by Finland. The sensors have extensive heritage from those in the Curiosity rover, Schiaparelli lander and Phoenix lander.11
    • Meteorological boom, incorporating: 3 atmospheric temperature sensors (MT3S); Solar Irradiance (SIS20) and Dust (DS20) sensors (developed by Spain); METEO-H (see above), and wind sensor (DSV).
    • Anisotropic Magneto-Resistance (AMR) sensor to measure magnetic fields. Developed by Spain.
    • Optical Depth Sensor (ODS).
    • Microphone.
    • MTK-L: Descent and Landing Unit (DB) for atmospheric temperature and pressure, and high atmosphere unit (BDVA) for sensing acceleration & angular rate.
    • Upward-looking LIDAR (BDA).
  • A magnetometer package (MAIGRET - MArtIan GRound Electromagnetic Tool), led by Russia, including electronics unit, fluxgate unit (UF-M) and Wave Analyser Module (WAM),12 the latter developed by the Czech Republic.
  • A set of four cameras (TSPP) plus data collection unit to characterise the landing site environment. Developed by Russia.
  • An IR Fourier spectrometer (FAST) to study the atmosphere. Developed by Russia.
  • Active Detection of Radiation of Nuclei-ExoMars (ADRON-EM). Developed by Russia, including a pulsed neutron generator (ING-10M), and a radiation dosimeter (Liulin-ML) from Bulgaria.
  • Multi-channel Diode-Laser Spectrometer (M-DLS) for atmospheric investigations. Developed by Russia.
  • Radio thermometer (RAT-M) for soil temperatures. Developed by Russia.
  • Dust particle size, impact, and atmospheric charging instrument suite (PK). Developed by Russia, including also contributions from Italy (MicroMED) and France (electrical conductivity sensor).
  • A seismometer (SEM). Developed by Russia.13
  • Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (MGAK) for atmospheric analysis. Developed by Russia.
  • INRRI (Instrument for landing/Roving laser Retroreflector Investigations), provided by Italy.
Power source

The science and communication instruments on the lander would have been powered by solar panels and rechargeable batteries.14 The automated voltage power system is being developed and build by ISS Reshetnev.15

Russia previously evaluated the option of using a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) to power the science instruments,16 and a radioisotope heater unit (RHU) to provide thermal control while on the frozen Martian surface.17

Landing site selection

Main article: ExoMars § Landing site selection

After a review by an ESA-appointed panel, a short list of four sites was formally recommended in October 2014 for further detailed analysis:1819

On 21 October 2015, Oxia Planum was chosen as the preferred landing site for the ExoMars rover, now the Rosalind Franklin rover, assuming a 2018 launch. But since the launch was postponed to 2020, Aram Dorsum and Mawrth Vallis are also being considered.2021 ESA convened further workshops to re-evaluate the three remaining options and in March 2017 selected two sites to study in detail:

After deliberation, ESA selected Oxia Planum to be the landing site in November 2018.2223

References

  1. Meet 'Kazachok': Landing Platform for ExoMars Rover Gets a Name. Mike Wall, Spaceflight. 22 March 2019. https://www.space.com/russian-exomars-lander-name-kazachok.html ↩

  2. "Russia and Europe Team Up for Mars Missions". Space.com. 14 March 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2016. http://www.space.com/20240-mars-missions-russia-europe.html ↩

  3. "Exomars 2018 surface platform". European Space Agency. Retrieved 14 March 2016. http://exploration.esa.int/mars/56933-exomars-2018-surface-platform/ ↩

  4. "Russia and Europe Team Up for Mars Missions". Space.com. 14 March 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2016. http://www.space.com/20240-mars-missions-russia-europe.html ↩

  5. "Joint Europe-Russia Mars rover project is parked". BBC. 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60782932 ↩

  6. "Europe ending cooperation with Russia on life-hunting Mars rover". Space.com. https://www.space.com/europe-ends-cooperation-russia-exomars-rover ↩

  7. "Exomars 2018 surface platform". European Space Agency. Retrieved 14 March 2016. http://exploration.esa.int/mars/56933-exomars-2018-surface-platform/ ↩

  8. ExoMars-2020 Surface Platform scientific investigation. Daniel Rodionov, Lev Zelenyi, Oleg Korablev, Ilya Chuldov and Jorge Vago. EPSC Abstracts. Vol. 12, EPSC2018-732, European Planetary Science Congress 2018. https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2018/EPSC2018-732.pdf ↩

  9. LaRa (Lander Radioscience) on the ExoMars 2020 Surface Platform. (PDF) Véronique Dehant, Sébastien Le Maistre, Rose-Marie Baland, et al. EPSC Abstracts. Vol. 12, EPSC2018-31, 2018. European Planetary Science Congress 2018. https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2018/EPSC2018-31.pdf ↩

  10. Controller for in-situ pressure and humidity measurements on board ExoMars 2020 Surface Platform. Nikkanen, Timo; Genzer, Maria; Hieta, Maria; Harri, Ari-Matti; Haukka, Harri; Polkko, Jouni; Meskanen, Matias. 20th EGU General Assembly, EGU2018, Proceedings from the conference held 4–13 April 2018 in Vienna, Austria, p.7507. April 2018. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018EGUGA..20.7507N ↩

  11. Controller for in-situ pressure and humidity measurements on board ExoMars 2020 Surface Platform. Nikkanen, Timo; Genzer, Maria; Hieta, Maria; Harri, Ari-Matti; Haukka, Harri; Polkko, Jouni; Meskanen, Matias. 20th EGU General Assembly, EGU2018, Proceedings from the conference held 4–13 April 2018 in Vienna, Austria, p.7507. April 2018. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018EGUGA..20.7507N ↩

  12. Wave analyzer module of the MAIGRET instrument onboard Surface Platform of the ExoMars 2020 mission. Santolik, Ondrej; Kolmasova, Ivana; Uhlir, Ludek; Skalsky, Alexander; Soucek, Jan; Lan, Radek. 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 14–22 July 2018, in Pasadena, California, USA, Abstract id. B4.2-39-18. July 2018. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018cosp...42E2969S ↩

  13. Алексей Андреев. И на Марсе может здорово трясти, 20 Мая 2019 https://stimul.online/articles/science-and-technology/i-na-marse-mozhet-zdorovo-tryasti/?sphrase_id=3569 ↩

  14. ISS-Reshetnev chosen for ExoMars-2020 project Archived 28 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine. ISS-Reshetnev. 23 November 2016. http://www.iss-reshetnev.com/media/news/news-231116 ↩

  15. ISS-Reshetnev chosen for ExoMars-2020 project Archived 28 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine. ISS-Reshetnev. 23 November 2016. http://www.iss-reshetnev.com/media/news/news-231116 ↩

  16. Amos, Jonthan (21 June 2013). "Looking forward to Europe's 'seven minutes of terror'". BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23010103 ↩

  17. Zak, Anatoly (3 March 2016). "ExoMars 2018". Russian Space Web. Retrieved 15 March 2016. http://www.russianspaceweb.com/exomars_2016.html ↩

  18. "Four Candidate Landing Sites for ExoMars 2018". ESA. Space Ref. 1 October 2014. Archived from the original on 1 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014. https://archive.today/20141001213700/http://spaceref.com/mars/four-candidate-landing-sites-for-exomars-2018.html ↩

  19. "Recommendation for the Narrowing of ExoMars 2018 Landing Sites". ESA. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014. http://exploration.esa.int/jump.cfm?oid=54707 ↩

  20. Amos, Jonathan (21 October 2015). "ExoMars rover: Landing preference is for Oxia Planum". BBC News. Retrieved 22 October 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34584214 ↩

  21. Atkinson, Nancy (21 October 2015). "Scientists Want ExoMars Rover to Land at Oxia Planum". Universe Today. Retrieved 22 October 2015. http://www.universetoday.com/123018/scientists-want-exomars-rover-to-land-at-oxia-planum/ ↩

  22. "Landing Site". ESA. Retrieved 12 March 2020. https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Exploration/ExoMars/Landing_site ↩

  23. Amos, Jonathan (9 November 2018). "ExoMars: Life-detecting robot to be sent to Oxia Planum". BBC News. Retrieved 12 March 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46153332 ↩