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Announcement of Opportunity: Aurora Science 2019

Aiming to support planetary exploration science to enhance the UK’s capabilities and cross-disciplinary approach.

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Aurora Science: Announcement of Opportunity

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The first mission in the Aurora programme, ExoMars, will search for traces of past and present life.

A key goal of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) is to detect and characterise trace gases in the Martian atmosphere and gain a better understanding of methane and other atmospheric gases that are present in small concentrations but could be evidence for possible biological or geological activity.

The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover, due for launch in 2020, will search Mars for signs of biosignatures from past life preserved within the subsurface via drilling up to 2m into the surface.

This scheme is open to academics and individual scientists from the UK or overseas, working at UK Research Organisations, for proposals to fund:

  • Fellowships to develop promising early career researchers
  • Post Doctorate Research Assistants
  • Support for academics

Applications are particularly welcome in the following areas:

  • Operations and science for the ExoMars 2020 mission;
  • Support activities in preparation for Mars Sample Return.

Updates to this page

Published 9 April 2018
Last updated 14 June 2019 + show all updates
  1. New Announcement of Opportunity: Aurora Science 2019. Updated from 2018 to 2019.

  2. First published.

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