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).
Europe launches into astrobiology
Is our planet an oasis of life in an otherwise dead universe? Twenty years ago, the scientific consensus was “yes, probably”. Now it has shifted to “probably not” and the field of astro- (or exo-) biology is burgeoning. This growth of interest is evident this week at ESRIN, ESA’s European Space Research Institute in Frascati, Italy, which is hosting the first European workshop on exo/astrobiology. About 200 scientists from fields as diverse as astrophysics, geology, environmental sciences, biology and chemistry are attending. Yesterday, they took the opportunity to set up the European Exo/astrobiology Network to coordinate their growing efforts.
Call for ideas for the re-use of the MARS EXPRESS Platform
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.
Mars Express forges collaboration with Japanese Mars mission
International collaboration between Europe and Japan took a step forward last month when scientists building instruments for ESA’s Mars Express mission travelled to Japan for a meeting with their counterparts on Nozomi, the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science’s (ISAS) mission to Mars.
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.
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
Launcher for Mars Express undergoes successful test flight
The first Soyuz-Fregat launch vehicle, of the type that will launch Mars Express in June 2003, was launched successfully today from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan today.
Beagle 2 team assesses landing sites
The Beagle 2 team has selected two potential landing sites on Mars for further study. In the latest issue of the Beagle 2 Bulletin, John Bridges from the Natural History Museum, London, who is leading the landing site study, writes: “The prospective areas are within the Chryse and Tritonis Lacus regions. Both are at low elevation, which gives more opportunity for the parachutes to brake the descent of Beagle 2. The latitude of the two sites, about 19

