Schiaparelli EDM

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/schiaparelli-edm

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the mission designation?Schiaparelli Entry, Descent, and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM)
2. What is the program affiliation?ExoMars Programme, a joint ESA-Roscosmos initiative
3. How did the lander try to slow down on Mars?It used a heat shield to survive the hot entry, then a parachute to slow down, and finally tiny rockets to make a gentle landing.
4. Why did the Schiaparelli lander crash?The rockets may have stopped early or not fired, and a sensor might have given wrong height, so the lander fell from about 2.4 km and hit the ground hard.

Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL): The critical and complex sequence of events required to safely land a spacecraft on a planetary surface.
Atmospheric Entry: The phase where a spacecraft enters a planet's atmosphere, experiencing intense heat and deceleration.
Retrorockets: Rocket engines used to slow down a spacecraft during its final descent towards a planetary surface.
Telemetry: The process of remotely recording and transmitting measurements and other data from a spacecraft.