ExoMars Mission: ESA Targets Meridiani Planum For Schiaparelli Module’s October Landing

ExoMars — a spacecraft sent to Mars in the first phase of a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia’s Roscosmos — is on course for its Oct. 19 rendezvous with the red planet. On Thursday, the ESA released a photograph of the location where the mission’s Schiaparelli module will land, if all goes as planned.

The location — Meridiani Planum — is an area of Mars close to the equator that is relatively flat and smooth, making it an ideal region to attempt a landing. NASA’s Opportunity rover also landed there in 2004.