2004 is going to be a busy time for the red planet, Mars. The crucible for Science Fiction fantasies of alien life is about to be visited by not one – but three inter-planetary probes. Two have been sent by NASA and will undertake surface studies in different regions of the planet. Named “Opportunity” and “Spirit”, these traditional rover-style vehicles will range far and wide across the rock-strewn Martian landscape gathering data about it’s geology. The European Space Agency’s probe “Beagle 2” on the other hand, will lie static on the slopes of the Isidis Planitia – a 1,500 km escarpement in the highlands of the Martian Equatorial Region – where it will gather data about the Martian atmosphere and potential for life. Mars Express was launched by the ESA on June 2nd 2003, and the orbiter carrying “The Beagle 2” will arrive at the Red Planet shortly after Christmas.
Mars is just around the corner
After a journey of 400 million km, ESA’s Mars Express is now approaching its final destination. On 19 December, the spacecraft is scheduled to release the Beagle 2 lander it has been carrying since its launch on 2 June. At 9:31 CET, ESA’s ground control team at Darmstadt (Germany) will send the command for the Beagle 2 lander to separate from Mars Express. A pyrotechnic device will be fired to slowly release a loaded spring, which will gently push Beagle 2 away from the mother spacecraft.
Mars lander to fly like a Beagle The Toronto Star
Like the little train that thought it could in the children’s story, a bargain-basement spacecraft no bigger than a bicycle wheel is poised to land on Mars Christmas Day and begin the first direct search for extraterrestrial life there in almost 30 years. The lander, conceived and built in Britain, is already a scientific success story for packing the most precise detection gear ever to reach the Red Planet into the smallest package. Beagle 2 has also captured the public imagination here in a grassroots way that the slick NASA publicity machine has seldom managed in the United States.
Why is Mars so red?
VideoTalk is an exciting new multi-media feature that discusses the questions we hope will be answered by pioneering space exploration. See and hear exactly what evidence we hope to find on the surface and in the atmosphere of this rusty planet.
Crucial Moments On Route To Mars
Mars Express, ESA’s first probe to Mars, still has some challenges to face. The spacecraft has successfully come through its first power test after the gigantic solar flare on 28 October. Since 17 November the on-board software has been ‘frozen’ after several updates and the spacecraft is now quietly proceeding to its destination. The next major task, starting on 19 December, will be to safely release the Beagle 2 lander.
Take a look at Mars – up close and personal Independent Online
European space officials on Wednesday showed off the first pictures of Mars sent back by the Mars Express spacecraft as it heads for a Christmas rendezvous with the red planet. The pictures, taken from 5,4 million kilometres away, aren’t top quality, but they do prove that the spacecraft’s German-made HRSC high-resolution camera is in working order before it begins orbiting Mars and snapping pictures close up.
British probe survives solar storms on the final approach The Daily Telegraph
After surviving a vigorous battering from the worst solar storms in recent history, Mars Express and Beagle 2 are now well into the final leg of their six-month journey. Although Mars Express’s navigation system was temporarily blinded by the clouds of charged particles rushing from the Sun, tests have revealed that there was no long-term damage. Last month’s major course correction put the probes on a collision course with the red planet for the first time.
Mars Express Makes First Photo of Red Planet
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express has taken its first picture of the red planet as it gears up for arrival later this month. The photograph was taken by the probe’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) Dec. 1 and released today. It shows Mars from about 3.4 million miles (5.5 million kilometers) away. It is a very unusual view of Mars, ESA scientists said, because the planet is illuminated in a way never seen from Earth. The Sun shines on part of the western hemisphere, but more than a third of the Martian disk lies in the dark.
Countdown To Martian Xmas Now In The Express Lane
The Mars Express spacecraft, despite a series of intense solar flares that occurred late October-early November in active sunspots regions, is in good health and is operating normally. The spacecraft flew in the intense radiation environment that resulted from the exceptional solar and geomagnetic activity associated with these regions, temporarily causing disturbances on the star trackers. These disturbances, which were over within a few days, did not cause damage and did not constitute a threat to the mission.