The ExoMars programme, which is carried out by
European Space Agency (ESA) in cooperation with the Russian
federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), foresees a two-steps mission
to Mars. The first mission consists of an orbiter and an Entry
Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM) to be
launched in January 2016 and is scheduled to land on the planet
during the statistical dust storm season; the second mission
includes a descent module, a surface platform and a rover and
will be launched in 2018. The DREAMS (Dust characterization,
Risk assessment and Environment Analyser on the Martian
Surface) experiment for ExoMars 2016 is an autonomous
meteorological station designed to study the effect of dust on
Martian environment which will operate for two Martian days
(sols) relying on its own power supply after landing. DREAMS
includes a suite of sensors able to analyse temperature, pressure,
humidity, wind speed and direction and solar irradiance as well
as an electric field probe which will perform the first electrical
characterization of Mars surface atmosphere.