The launch vehicle "Proton-M" with modules of the ExoMars project, the first in the history of the Russian-European mission to search for life on Mars, was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome.
The launch took place at 12:31 pm Moscow time.
The rocket is supposed to deliver the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) orbiter and the Schiaparelli demo landing module to the Red Planet.
The Trace Gas Orbiter is equipped with Russian equipment from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. With its help, it is planned to study small gas impurities in the atmosphere of Mars and the distribution of water ice in the soil of the planet, as well as broadcast data from the landing module.
The ExoMars flight to Mars will take 7 months. Schiaparelli is expected to detach from TGO on October 16 so that on October 19 the former will enter the atmosphere of Mars and the latter will enter the planet's orbit. TGO will slow down the Martian atmosphere for about a year, so the start of operation of the scientific instruments of this apparatus is scheduled for mid-2017.
According to the calculations of specialists, the orbiter will work until the end of 2022, TASS notes.
The cost of the ExoMars project is estimated at $ 1.4 billion.