A briefing to interested parties on the Call for Ideas for the re-use of the Mars Express platform took place at ESA Headquarters, Paris, on 23 March 2001.
February 2nd, 2001
European mission to Mars on schedule for 2003 launch Spaceflight Now
Initial assembly on Europe’s Mars Express mission is complete, leaving the craft’s basic structure ready for a barrage of tests through the next month. Mars Express is due for a June 2003 launch toward Mars, where it will enter orbit around the red planet.
December 21st, 2000
Landing Site for British Mars Mission Selected
Britain’s Beagle 2 Mars lander is being targeted to land at a site where traces of life might be preserved. The European Space Agency (ESA) announced Wednesday that the spunky Beagle 2 would land on Isidis Planitia, a large flat region that overlies the boundary between ancient highlands and the northern plains.
December 20th, 2000
Landing site chosen for Mars mission
The landing site has been chosen for the European spacecraft that will touch down on the surface of Mars in 2003. Beagle 2, which is being built by UK scientists and engineers, will land on Isidis Planitia, a large flat region that overlies the boundary between the ancient highlands and the northern plains of the Red Planet. The area appears to be a sedimentary basin where traces of life could have been preserved – if it ever developed on Mars. Beagle 2 is flying as part of the Mars Express mission, which also includes a weather satellite.
December 20th, 2000
Beagle 2 landing site selected
The Mars Express lander, Beagle 2, will land on Isidis Planitia, a large flat region that overlies the boundary between the ancient highlands and the northern plains. The choice of site was announced last week at a meeting of the Mars Express science working team in ESTEC, Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
December 11th, 2000
Beagle 2: New Benchmark For Mars Science, Engineering Aviation Week & Space Technology
Of all the innovative science and technology engineered into Europe’s Mars Express mission, perhaps none is so bold as the lander. Christened Beagle 2, after Charles Darwin’s legendary vessel, the lander will be pioneering in more ways than one. If successful, it will mark the first time countries other than the U.S. or the Soviet Union have landed a spacecraft on another planet. And assuming NASA’s two Athena probes touch down safely, it will be the first time three landers have reached such a body at the same time.
December 11th, 2000
Europe Targets 2003 Mars Touchdown Aviation Week & Space Technology
A mission underway at the European Space Agency will mark Europe’s entry into the Mars exploration effort while pushing the boundaries of Martian science and technology to new limits. Mars Express is intended to conduct the most thorough search yet for the presence of water or other signs of life on the red planet, despite a budget that would make NASA planners blush. Mars Express will comprise an orbiter costing 150 million euros ($127 million) and a lander, Beagle 2, that will cost barely 50 million euros–by far the cheapest Mars project ever. The probe will be ESA’s first Flexible mission–the agency’s answer to NASA’s “faster, better, cheaper” approach.
November 23rd, 2000
Europe plays a major part in future Mars exploration
Starting with Mars Express and Beagle 2 and ending with a possible Sample Return Mission, Europe will be making a major contribution to Mars exploration over the next two decades. Europe
September 15th, 2000
Red planet rivalry? European space official fires salvos at NASA
A European Space Agency scientist predicted that Europe’s first mission to Mars will scientifically outperform NASA’s rovers, despite its cheaper cost, smaller size and lack of mobility. NASA representatives declined to return the fire, saying the two missions were complementary, not competitive.
September 13th, 2000
Battle of the Martian landers
The scientist behind Europe’s lander mission to Mars has launched an extraordinary attack on the American space agency, Nasa, and its plans to return to the Red Planet. Professor Colin Pillinger said the agency’s twin rovers would be engaged in little more than a jaunt around the planet’s rocky surface when they touch down in 2004 and would be part of some questionable science. He claimed Europe’s static lander, named Beagle 2, would achieve far more than Nasa’s so-called Athena package and at a fraction of the cost.