The H.M.S. Beagle set sail from Britain late in the stormy December of 1831, bearing the young naturalist Charles Darwin on a quest to understand the natural history of the farthest lands humans could reach. One hundred and seventy two years later, the UK’s Open and Leicester Universities, together with Astrium, an Aerospace Industry partner, aims to reach a bit farther: to Mars. Beagle 2, a compact, lightweight lander carried on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express, will search for signs of life on the red planet.
August 29th, 2001
Mars Express Unites Europe’s Scientific Community
If you live in Europe, there’s almost certainly a research institute or industrial company near you that is contributing materials or expertise to Mars Express, Europe’s first mission to the Red Planet. Under the umbrella of the European Space Agency, at least 25 companies from 15 European countries are building hardware or software for the spacecraft, or otherwise contributing their expertise; and more than 200 scientists from research institutes in all ESA member states and beyond are contributing towards the scientific payload. “The Mars Express project is providing about 1000 jobs throughout Europe,” estimates Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager at ESTEC, the European Space Agency’s technical centre in the Netherlands. Preparations are well under way and on schedule for a May/June 2003 launch sending the spacecraft on its six-month voyage. The structure is taking shape under the guidance of the prime contractor Astrium, Toulouse (France), and the scientific teams are on target with scientific instrument development.
August 27th, 2001
Europe Hopes For Express Answer
Geologists poring over the latest images from Mars keep on turning up new and tantalising evidence that water once flowed freely on the planet’s surface — and may still flow from time to time. If their interpretation is right, underground aquifers or ice layers should be commonplace on the planet. Yet no spacecraft flown so far has been capable of identifying them. All that should change in a few years, however, with the first European missions to the Red Planet. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express followed by the Netlanders, lead by the French space agency, CNES, will be the first missions capable of prospecting directly for underground water on Mars.
August 19th, 2001
Satellite dish in place for 2003 Mars mission Australian Broadcasting Corporation
A satellite dish that will be used to communicate with a space mission to Mars in 2003 has been lifted into place at a ground station in Western Australia. The dish, belonging to the European Space Agency, has been lifted into position at New Norcia, 150 kilometres north of Perth.
August 10th, 2001
Mars Express passes milestone with flying colours
As space engineers and scientists met last month for a final review of the Mars Express spacecraft design, the spacecraft itself was taking shape at the premises of Alenia, Torino, Italy. “Normally, we would have the critical design review (CDR) after tests of the spacecraft structural model (SM tests) have been completed. But because of the tight schedule for Mars Express, most of the review had to be completed early. We’ve done all the reviewing we can. A few items have to wait until after the SM tests,” says Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager.
June 23rd, 2001
2nd Announcement of Opportunity for the Mars Express mission
The European Space Agency solicits the participation of the scientific community in the Mars Express Orbiter and Lander Programme to further increase the scientific return of the selected investigations and of the mission as a whole, through this Announcement of Opportunity (AO).
June 22nd, 2001
Mars Express Team Takes Longing Look
Members of the European Space Agency (ESA) effort, Mars Express, have inspected their “exit ramp” on the road to the Red Planet. Mars Express project and industrial teams trekked to Kazakhstan a few weeks ago, eyeing the Baikonur cosmodrome where Mars Express will depart on a Soyuz-Fregat rocket in June 2003. The spacecraft is to orbit Mars starting in late 2003. The advance party also visited the Soyuz manufacturing plant in Samara, an industrial town on the banks of the Volga River.
June 21st, 2001
Mars Express – Europe Conquers the Red Planet
For the first time, a European space probe is to fly to Mars and land on the planet by the end of 2003. “Mars Express” shall investigate whether there was once water on our neighboring planet Mars and whether life was formed at that time. At 150 million euros, this will be the most cost-effective mission ever undertaken. This has been made possible by the use of proven technologies and developments of the comet probe “Rosetta” and “Mars 96”.
June 11th, 2001
Mars Express Will Put Phobos In The Spotlight
Phobos, the tiny innermost moon of Mars, is to come under unprecedented scrutiny after Europe’s mission to Mars goes into orbit around the Red Planet late in 2003. Mars Express is due to pass within 3000 km of the 22 km diameter moon a few hundred times during its two-year nominal mission lifetime.
April 9th, 2001
A European Mars Moving Ahead
If you live in Europe, there’s almost certainly a research institute or industrial company near you that is contributing materials or expertise to Mars Express, Europe’s first mission to the Red Planet. Under the umbrella of the European Space Agency, at least 25 companies from 15 European countries are building hardware or software for the spacecraft, or otherwise contributing their expertise; and more than 200 scientists from research institutes in all ESA member states and beyond are contributing towards the scientific payload.