The European Space Agency will launch its first lander on the surface of Mars this week. The lander will be deployed from its spacecraft mothership on Sunday, October 16.

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This mission is Europe's second lander that will hunt for evidence of alien life on the Red Planet, if successful it will be the first European Martian lander.

The ESA's ExoMars program is a joint Mars mission with Russia. The Schiaparelli lander is set to be released from the Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft at 10:42 a.m. EDT. The lander will take three days to descend to the surface of Mars.

The TGO spacecraft and the Schiaparelli travelled several months to arrive at Mars. Landing on the surface of the Red Planet is a massive challenge for the ESA. To date, NASA's Curiosity and Opportunity rovers are exploring Martian terrain. NASA aims to send humans to Mars by the 2030s, with SpaceX's Elon Musk now developing a massive rocket to send humans to Mars as early 2024 for colonization.

The ExoMars mission, however, aims to search for crucial clues about life on Mars - if it ever really existed or is still existing on the dry, dusty world. Apart from the lander, the TGO also has an atmospheric probe to study gases enshrouding the planet.
Gases such as methane would be a pivotal discovery on Mars as it suggests the presence of microbial life. Mission scientists will also search for evidence of micro organisms that existed millions of years ago. It will also seek to determine if methane is trapped inside Martian surface or if it is still being produced by microbial life.

In 2020, the second phase of the mission will see the ESA send another rover to the surface of Mars which will have the ability to collect samples by drilling and analyzing Martian soil and rock.