\n<\/p>\n
Watch ESA\u2019s Mars chief engineer Albert\u00a0Haldemann\u00a0explain the\u00a0sterilisation\u00a0process of one of the parachutes of the\u00a0ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission and why it matters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Carefully wrapped inside\u00a0a\u00a0donut-shaped bag is a 35-m diameter parachute,\u00a0about to be baked inside a\u00a0specialised\u00a0dry-heat\u00a0steriliser\u00a0oven.\u00a0The parachute needs to be at least 10 000 times cleaner than your smartphone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To get rid of any microbes it might have picked up during its time on Earth, the parachute was heated up in a\u00a0specialised\u00a0oven at the European Space Agency\u2019s\u00a0Life Support and Physical Sciences Laboratory\u00a0at ESTEC, the agency\u2019s technical centre in the Netherlands.\u00a0All air inside the\u00a0cleanroom continuously passes through a two-stage filter, and everyone entering the chamber\u00a0must\u00a0gown up more rigorously than a surgeon before passing through an air shower to remove any contaminants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a074 kg parachute, made mostly of nylon and Kevlar fabrics,\u00a0will\u00a0endure a six-minute dive into the thin\u00a0martian\u00a0atmosphere\u00a0and slow down the\u00a0ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover\u00a0for a safe landing on\u00a0the Red Planet. This feat will make it the largest parachute ever to fly on the Red Planet,\u00a0or anywhere else in the Solar System\u00a0besides\u00a0Earth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission will launch in 2028 and spend over\u00a025 months\u00a0travelling to the Red Planet where it will search for signs of life\u00a0beneath\u00a0the\u00a0martian\u00a0surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The potential existence of past and perhaps even present-day life on our closest planetary\u00a0neighbour\u00a0requires rigorous\u00a0sterilisation, to make sure that\u00a0no microbes piggyback their way there\u00a0from Earth. Any terrestrial\u00a0microbes\u00a0hardy\u00a0enough to survive the ride through space\u00a0could interfere with the investigation by causing \u2018forward contamination\u2019 and triggering a false positive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Protecting the\u00a0martian\u00a0environment from ourselves,\u00a0in accordance with\u00a0international\u00a0planetary protection\u00a0measures, is as important as protecting the mission\u00a0itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\t\t\t