British astronomers are a step closer to sending a probe to the surface of Mars and are thanking two members of the pop group Blur for their support. If all goes to plan, Beagle 2 will be launched in 2003 aboard the European Space Agency’s Mars Express, a spacecraft that will map Mars’s landscape, mineral deposits and weather systems.
October 19th, 1998
Beagle 2, The British Mars Lander, Wins ESA Committee Support
At a special reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of London’s staff and held at the Mansion House, Dr. Colin Pillinger, head of the Beagle 2 project was able to confirm that the European Space Agency (ESA) is prepared to back Britain’s Beagle 2 lander as a priority for the 2003 Mars Express mission.
October 2nd, 1998
To boldly go where no Brits have gone before
Almost 170 years ago, Charles Darwin boarded HMS Beagle and began a journey that would change the way the world thinks. Now a team of predominantly British scientists hopes to do justice to that heritage by going someway towards answering that fundamental question: Are we alone?
June 22nd, 1998
Hurry along please, for the Mars Express Florida Today
Any scientists wanting to send instruments to the surface of the planet Mars have until 3 July to offer a small lander that might be carried aboard the European Space Agency mission Mars Express. The selection of a lander, if any, will then be the last stage in defining the scientific payload of Mars Express, which is intended to go into orbit around the Red Planet at the end of 2003.
June 18th, 1998
ESA 2003 Mars Express Mission at Risk
Due to cost overruns in other science programs, The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express mission appears to be at risk. According to the June 15 issue of Space News, ESA is now debating whether to fund the mission, which would fly both an orbiter and a lander to Mars in 2003 at an expected combined cost to ESA of $165 million.
March 4th, 1998
Business opportunities on Mars
Businesses may be invited to sponsor a space mission to Mars in search of life. If it is given the go-ahead by the European Space Agency, the Mars Express mission to investigate the surface and atmosphere of the planet will be launched in 2003.