Power supply problems have appeared at the Mars-Express interplanetary space station of the European Space Agency (ESA) launched from the Russian Baikonur-2 space centre on June 2 this year. The station’s wing with solar semiconductor batteries has become disconnected from the station’s power system for an unknown reason, which reduced by a quarter power supply to the instruments at Mars-Express, a RIA Novosti correspondent was told Wednesday at the Russian Rosaviakosmos aerospace agency.
August 26th, 2003
Catching Up On Mars
On 27 August 2003, Mars is less than 56 million kilometres away — approaching closer to our planet than it has done in over 60,000 years. About the same time as this closest approach, Mars Express passes the halfway mark of its journey, in terms of distance along its trajectory. On 1 September 2003, as it hurtles through space at 10,800 kilometres per hour, the spacecraft will have covered over 242 million kilometres, half of the total of 485 million kilometres needed to arrive at Mars. Note that the distance travelled is not the same as the distance between the Earth and Mars.
August 23rd, 2003
The Beagle hasn’t landed yet, but Mars fever grips UK The Age
Professor Pillinger, a planetary scientist from Britain’s Open University, is the public face of Britain’s first mission to Mars. As the world’s amateur and professional skywatchers turn their gaze towards Mars on August 27, when it will be a mere 56 million kilometres away, his thoughts will be on the small payload of the European Space Agency’s orbiter, Mars Express. The Beagle 2 lander, named after Charles Darwin’s famous ship, has been six years and about
July 24th, 2003
EADS Astrium sponsors Beagle 2 The British National Space Centre
Europe’s leading space and satellite company, EADS Astrium, whose Stevenage-based engineers and technicians designed and built the Beagle 2 Mars Lander, today announced that it has become Beagle 2’s first commercial sponsor. EADS Astrium’s backing, worth over
July 17th, 2003
Earth and Moon Photographed by Mars Express
The European Mars Express took time out from its journey to Mars to turn around and snap a picture of Earth and the Moon. The picture is not only pleasing to the eye but thrilling for project scientists, as it represents the first observational data to be sent home by the probe. Along with other data recently collected and returned, it shows the spacecraft’s working as expected.
July 7th, 2003
Milestone for Mars lander
The Beagle 2 lander has passed its first routine “health check” on the journey to Mars. Engineers made contact with the module at the weekend to test various systems as it hurtled towards the Red Planet onboard Mars Express. It appears to be in good shape for the 400-million-kilometre journey.
July 3rd, 2003
Mars Express ‘on 70% power’
Europe’s first Mars space craft is suffering from a power glitch. However, controllers believe it will make no difference to the mission itself.
July 2nd, 2003
Power glitch hits Mars Express, but mission should be OK: ESA
Europe’s first solo mission to Mars has been hit by a 30-percent shortfall in power, but this should not affect any of its goals, the European Space Agency (ESA) here said Wednesday. Ground engineers checking out the Mars Express as it heads towards the Red Planet came across a faulty connection between its solar wings and a unit that distributes the electricity generated by those panels, ESA said in a mission update.
June 24th, 2003
Memory error interrupts Mars Express testing New Scientist
An anomaly with a key computer memory unit aboard Europe’s Mars Express, currently speeding towards the red planet, has interrupted remote testing of the spacecraft, the European Space Agency revealed on Tuesday.