Russia launching a rocket today that will probe for life on MarsMumbai, Mar 14(AZINS) In a joint effort between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Russia plans to launch a two-phase project aimed at probing both the atmosphere and the terrain of Mars in the hope of finding indications of past life on the planet.

Known as the ExoMars mission, phase one kicks off on Monday, 14 March, with the rocket carrying a satellite that is tasked with searching for methane in the Martian atmosphere, especially to determine whether the gas has been generated geologically or via a biological process on the planet.

The next phase of the project is scheduled to happen in 2018, where the Russian rocket will carry a British-created rover built to drill deep into the Martian surface to search for any indications of past life on the planet’s surface.

The rocket carrying these Mars probes is known as Proton, with the entire project expected to cost 1.2 billion Euros (approximately 8,967.15 crore rupees.)

Dr Peter Grindrod from the University of London, which is funded by the UK Space Agency says of this mission, "This is a series of missions that's trying to address one of the fundamental questions in science: is there life anywhere else besides the Earth?"

Today’s launch, scheduled to happen from the Baikonour cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:31 GMT will launch the satellite on a six-month journey towards its rendezvous with the Red Planet in October this year.

This mission the beginning of a collaboration between the ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency that may likely lead to other endeavours including the exploration of the Moon and Mercury.

Watch the livestream of the launch on the ESA website here.