NEW YORK — The ExoMars 2016 mission — a collaboration between the European and Russian space agencies — is scheduled to blast off from Kazakhstan on Monday.

The spacecraft, which consists of an orbiter that will measure methane and other gases in the Martian atmosphere and a lander to study dust storms, will ride on top of a Russian Proton rocket that is expected to lift off at 3:31 p.m. local time.

The European Space Agency will cover the launch on the Internet beginning about an hour before liftoff.

After a journey of seven months, the ExoMars spacecraft will arrive at Mars in October. Three days before arriving, the lander, named Schiaparelli after the 19th-century Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, will separate from the orbiter. It is to enter the atmosphere at 13,000 mph and quickly decelerate on its way to settling down on the surface.

The main objective of Schiaparelli is to demonstrate its landing system. The lander carries instruments to measure Mars’ atmosphere during the height of the dust storm season. Its batteries are expected to last only two to four days.

The Trace Gas Orbiter is to operate until at least 2022, circling Mars at an altitude of 250 miles. Its instruments will measure gases, like methane, water vapor, and nitrogen, that could hold important clues about the possibility of life on Mars.

Methane is the most intriguing trace gas. Any methane in the atmosphere must have been created recently, and the two possibilities for creating methane are microbes and a geological process requiring heat and liquid water.