The European-Russian ExoMars
mission to find traces of life on Mars began on Monday with a
rocket launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
Italy has a strong presences in the mission via the
contributions of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and companies
Finmeccanica and Thales Alenia Space Italia.
"ExoMars is the Europe that we like," Premier Matteo
Renzi, who has been highly critical of the direction of the EU,
said via his Twitter account (@matteorenzi).
"It's the Italy we are proud of @ASI_spazio
@finmeccanicaIT".
The rocket is carrying the unmanned ExoMars probe
which has started a seven-month journey through space that
should see it reach Mars in October.
It is made up an orbiter, which will analyse gases around
Mars, such as methane, a chemical that is linked to life on
Earth, and a small lander that will put a rover on the surface
in 2018.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
