The ideas in the design of the Russian Mars-96 space vehicle, lost in 1996 on its way to orbit, were used in the European Mars-Express project, said Vasily Moroz, department chief at the Space Research Institute and one of the Mars-96 designers, at a press conference in Moscow on Monday.
January 26th, 2004
Scientists Read Last Rites for Beagle Mars Lander
Deeply disappointed British scientists read the last rites for their missing Mars lander Beagle 2 Monday, and called for a new space mission to replace the life-seeking probe. “Under these circumstances we have to begin to accept that if Beagle 2 is on the Martian surface, it is not active,” Colin Pillinger, the probe’s lead scientist, told a news conference. “But now is not the time to grieve. We must look to the future.” After a series of attempts to contact the lander, which should have parachuted onto the surface of the Red Planet on Christmas day, one final attempt will be made to jolt it into life.
January 25th, 2004
Europe’s eye on Mars
Images from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA’s Mars Express orbiter, in colour and 3D, in orbit 18 on 14 January 2004 from a height of 275 km.
January 24th, 2004
Ice On Mars The Mirror
THE first direct evidence of water on Mars was beamed back yesterday by Mars Express, orbiting above the red planet. The European spacecraft, which carried the ill-fated British-built Beagle 2 to Mars, made the discovery on the planet’s icy south pole.
January 24th, 2004
Mars was once awash with water The Daily Star
Data relayed from Europe’s brand-new mission to Mars gave dramatic backing yesterday to theories that the Red Planet was once awash with water, one of the precious ingredients for life. First results from the unmanned spacecraft Mars Express sketched the vision of a planet whose surface was once sculpted by seas and glaciers and confirms indications that its South Pole is capped by frozen water. That boosts hopes that big reserves of ice may lie beneath the surface, providing fuel and sustenance for a future manned mission, European Space Agency (ESA) officials said.
January 23rd, 2004
Scientists confirm water on Mars The Toronto Star
Europe’s Mars orbiter has detected water molecules vapourizing from the Red Planet’s south pole, scientists announced today, calling it the most direct evidence yet of water in the form of ice on the Martian surface. The quest for water on Mars – which could indicate life – has fascinated scientists for centuries. Mars watchers have long believed that the planet’s poles contain frozen water, but previous scientific findings – including NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter’s evidence of large amounts of ice – were based more on inferences, European Space Agency scientists said.
January 23rd, 2004
First data from Mars Express confirms ice water New Scientist
Direct measurement of water on the surface of Mars – in the form of ice on the southern polar cap – tops the list of the first scientific data returned by the European Space Agency
January 23rd, 2004
Mars Express Confirms Water Ice on Red Planet
Mars Express has made the first detection of a chemical signature of the water ice at the south pole. Officials said today they had essentially seen the vapors of water at the surface. “You look at the picture, look at the fingerprint and say this is water ice,” said Allen Moorehouse of European Space Agency. “This is the first time it’s been detected on the ground. This is the first direct confirmation.”
January 20th, 2004
Europe’s orbiter reveals savage Martian landscape New Scientist
A landscape gashed with valleys is revealed in the first image from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter. It shows an aerial view of part of the Solar System’s grandest canyon, the Valles Marineris. The true-colour image was taken from 275 kilometres above the surface. It shows details as small as 12 metres wide in a view that stretches across 65 kilometres of the Red Planet’s surface.