Article Posted on : - May 06, 2009

Telescopic view of planet Mars.NASA photo.

WASHINGTON (BNS): NASA will carry out two science investigations to shed further light in the interior study of Mars and probe the tenuous atmosphere of Mercury.

The premier US space agency will launch the projects valued at approximately $ 38 dollar in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA said in a statement, Wednesday.

"The international collaboration will create a new chapter in planetary science and provide a strong partnership with the international science community to complement future robotic and human exploration activities," said Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Division.

The Lander Radio-Science on ExoMars, or LaRa, will use NASA's Deep Space Network of radio telescopes to track part of ESA's ExoMars mission. The mission scheduled to be launched in 2016 will consists of a fixed Lander and a rover that will roam Mars collecting soil samples for detailed analysis. The project costs approximately $6.6 million.

Data relayed from the Lander back to the network will allow scientists to measure and analyze variations in the length of the day and location of the planet's rotational axis. This data will help researchers further dissect the structure of the Red Planet's interior, including the size of its core. When combined with the Lander’s onboard instruments, the data also may help confirm whether the planet's interior is still, at least partially, composed of liquid, it said.

The second selection, named Strofio, will employ a unique mass spectrometer. The instrument will determine the mass of atoms and molecules to reveal the composition of Mercury's atmosphere. The investigation will study the atmosphere, which is formed from material ejected from its surface, to reveal the composition of Mercury's surface. The project to be launch in 2013 will cost approximately $ 31.8 million.

Strofio will investigate Mercury as a key component of the Italian Space Agency's suite of science instruments that will fly aboard ESA's BepiColombo mission. The mission is composed of two spacecraft. Japan will build one spacecraft to study the planet's magnetic field. ESA will build the other to study Mercury directly, the statement said.