ExoMars 2016 mission module sends first readings from Mars orbit
MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) - Scientific instruments aboard the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) of the ExoMars 2016 mission have conducted first test measurements on a highly elliptical orbit of Mars on November 20-28, making it possible to test and calibrate the equipment for the first time since it arrived on the red planet, a Roscosmos spokesperson told Interfax.
"While orbiting the craft comes within 230-300 kilometers of the surface of the planet and then moves nearly 98,000 kilometers away. An orbit period is 4.2 twenty-four-hour periods. On November 20-28 the TGO circled the orbit twice," the spokesperson said.
The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System cameras (CaSSIS) have been tested and first measurements of the Martian atmosphere were also obtained from the European scientific instrument called Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery (NOMAD), the spokesperson said.
Also, for the first time the Fine Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector (FREND) was switched on during the flight to Mars, he said.
On November 23 the first data was also obtained from a Fourrier spectrometer of the thermal infrared channel (1.7-17 ?m) called TIRVIM, containing information about atmospheric aerosols (dust and ice crystals), temperature profiles and gas concentrations.