Shropshire Star

Pressure off for Shropshire space pioneer Per Lindstrand in latest Mars landing

British scientists will face "six minutes of terror" today as the Schiaparelli space probe plunges to the surface of Mars after a seven-month journey - but the pressure is off this time for Shropshire's own space pioneer Per Lindstrand.

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If successful this will be the first time a European mission has landed on a planet.

The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe made it to the surface of Mars in 2003 thanks to robust parachutes made by Lindstrand Technologies in Oswestry - but unfortunately the probe's solar panels failed to open after impact rendering it paralysed and unable to contact Earth.

This time The ExoMars mission has been split into two parts with today's mission being a dummy run ahead of the launch of a European rover in 2020 which will hunt for alien life and which Per Lindstand will be bidding to be involved with once again.

The ExoMars spacecraft launched in March and is scheduled to arrive at the Red Planet this afternoon after a 300 million mile journey before the lander, Schiaparelli, began its descent to the surface.

The 8ft-wide (2.4m) disc-shaped lander will briefly fire its retro rockets before it is due to belly-flop on to a plain near the Martian equator at 3.48pm UK time using a heatshield, parachute and rocket boosters to slow it from 13,000mph, before finally belly-flopping onto the surface.

Per Lindstrand, who says there will always be a little bit of Shropshire on the red planet, said:"Mars is a very difficult target to land on and this could be because of the radiation fields around it - it is a bit of a graveyard.

"We proved we could do it with Beagle 2 - there was nothing wrong with the parachutes which deployed OK.

"Next time (in 2020) a smaller paracute will be needed with less weight - not simply a copy of the old one so there will have to be a new design.

"These missions are not very profitable, they are more for prestige and there are bigger fish to fry.

"We shall shall be going for the (2020) bid as we know we can do it - as one of only two companies in the world that have. However, if we don't get it next time we won't be too disappointed as the orders are flying in."

Mr Lindstrand was the first man to fly a hot air balloon across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and to the edge of space. His 1988 world altitude record flight to 20,000 metres lasted for 16 years.

Although known for balloons and not parachutes, the expertise and the facilities in Oswestry won Lindstrand Technologies in Oswestry the Beagle 2 contract.

Its 'clean room' made sure everything was completely sterile and test equipment can simulate conditions in space.

Designed by the European Space Agency, the Beagle 2 spacecraft was part of a project dedicated to finding life on Mars planet.

Lindstrand Technologies won the contract to design, develop and manufacture the parachute, which would slow down the spacecraft from speeds of Mach 1.3 to a velocity of 17m/s.

There were three major challenges in the project. The first was to develop materials that could withstand temperatures down to –88C. The second was to develop a fabric testing facility that could carry out all the testing in the exact simulated atmosphere on Mars.

The third challenge was to ensure that no out-gassing would take place on Mars and that the entire parachute is sterile.

Schiaparelli has crossed a distance of 500 million km (310 million miles) on its seven-month journey from Earth and the ExoMars mission's main objective is to look for signs of life.

But overcoming the notoriously tricky Martian atmosphere - too thin to rely on a parachute alone; too thick to reliably use thrusters - will also be a major achievement.

And dust storms and other environmental factors can change the characteristics of the atmosphere on a daily basis.

Schiaparelli's batteries will last just a couple of days and it has only a handful of instruments to monitor the weather.

Scientists know there are pockets of methane, a gas that should be broken down in less than 400 years, in the harsh sunlight of Mars.

That suggests it is constantly being replenished from an unknown source.

It may have a geological origin - water mixing with certain rocks.

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