When NASA
August 17th, 2000
Mars Express Comes Alive As Integration Begins
Europe’s mission to Mars is assuming a tangible form at the Astrium SAS (formerly MMS) integration facilities in Toulouse, France. “We’re down to the real work. It’s not paperwork anymore – it’s a real spacecraft,” says Vincent Poisignon, Mars Express project manager at Astrium SAS. Astrium SAS has built, exactly on schedule, the test bench to help ensure that all the components of the Mars Express spacecraft operate in unison. “We’ve kept to the schedule for one year. This is a real milestone which shows that the new working methods with industry being pioneered by Mars Express are working well,” says Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express project manager at ESTEC.
August 3rd, 2000
Athena To Join Beagle On Mars As Recovery From Setbacks Begins
Two landers are due to descend to the surface of Mars within a month of each other in late 2003, early 2004. Last week, NASA announced that it would be sending a rover to the red planet. Beagle 2, the Mars Express lander, is due to take up its position on the Martian surface about one month before NASA’s rover lands. The two spacecraft will land at different sites and take complementary approaches to their explorations.
June 28th, 2000
Mars Express: Europe Takes the Lead
A $200 million European mission just three years from launch may well take the next giant step in the hunt for water on Mars. The European Space Agency
June 22nd, 2000
Next Mars lander may miss water opportunity
The scientist behind the next scheduled mission to put a lander on Mars says his craft may not be able to visit the sites where Nasa researchers think there is evidence of recent running water.
May 22nd, 2000
U.K. to Launch Mars Probe
As NASA scales back its immediate plans to explore Mars, it
May 22nd, 2000
Europe Boards The Mars Express
As NASA reshapes a future Mars exploration agenda, the European Space Agency is moving out on a fast-track mission, its first to the Red Planet. Called the Mars Express, this faster-better-cheaper pedigree of a planetary probe is already touted as pepping up space science in Europe.
April 18th, 2000
Mars Express Sets A Date With Nozomi Without The Beagle
Mars Express is on target for production to start soon, while the science teams have begun forging links with ISAS, Japan’s space science institute, which hopes to have its own spacecraft Nozomi in orbit about Mars soon after Mars Express arrives in 2003.
March 16th, 2000
Key to life on Mars lies in the soil News Unlimited
Evidence for life on Mars might be in the soil – and overlooked because all previous missions had the wrong detector system. Organic chemicals such as alcohol, vinegar or oxalic acid – the stuff that makes rhubarb leaves taste bitter – might have existed on Mars, but landing craft would have failed to detect their byproducts. The harsh, thin Martian atmosphere would have altered such life-associated chemicals in various ways.
March 14th, 2000
Space: The Ultimate Billboard
After conquering Earth, commercial sponsorship has set its sight on Mars, with multinational corporations jostling to place their emblems aboard a scout probe due to land on the red planet in 2003.