Any football or rugby fan knows that when a player kicks the ball, there is no longer anything they can do to influence its path. The player must trust to their own skill for the ball to reach its intended destination. What has all this to do with Mars Express? Three days from now, on 19 December 2003, Mars Express must, like an expert rugby player,
December 15th, 2003
Christmas on Mars: be there with ESA
Launched on 2 June 2003, after a six-month cruise at an average speed of about 10 kilometres per second and covering a distance of about 400 million kilometres, ESA’s Mars Express will arrive at Mars on Christmas Day. After a very complicated and challenging series of operations during the night of 24/25 December 2003, the probe will be injected into an elliptical orbit near the poles of the Red Planet, while the Beagle 2 lander
December 13th, 2003
X-ray view of the Red Planet
Another ESA mission is turning its gaze towards Mars. This recent image was taken by the X-ray observatory XMM-Newton. All bodies in our Solar System, including planets such as Earth and Mars, emit X-ray radiation. As far as we know, there are several possible sources of this radiation.
December 11th, 2003
VideoTalk: Where does Mars hide its water?
Is there water on Mars? When Mars Express reaches the Red Planet on 25 December we will be closer than ever to discovering if the ancient river valleys on the surface of Mars hide huge reservoirs of water beneath. Watch and listen to the evidence on VideoTalk.
December 9th, 2003
Mars is just around the corner
After a journey of 400 million km, ESA’s Mars Express is now approaching its final destination. On 19 December, the spacecraft is scheduled to release the Beagle 2 lander it has been carrying since its launch on 2 June. At 9:31 CET, ESA’s ground control team at Darmstadt (Germany) will send the command for the Beagle 2 lander to separate from Mars Express. A pyrotechnic device will be fired to slowly release a loaded spring, which will gently push Beagle 2 away from the mother spacecraft.
December 6th, 2003
Why is Mars so red?
VideoTalk is an exciting new multi-media feature that discusses the questions we hope will be answered by pioneering space exploration. See and hear exactly what evidence we hope to find on the surface and in the atmosphere of this rusty planet.
November 28th, 2003
Mars Express Status Report – November 2003
The Mars Express spacecraft, despite a series of intense solar flares that occurred late October-early November in active sunspots regions, is in good health and is operating normally. The spacecraft flew in the intense radiation environment that resulted from the exceptional solar and geomagnetic activity associated with these regions, temporarily causing disturbances on the star trackers. These disturbances, which were over within a few days, did not cause damage and did not constitute a threat to the mission.
November 25th, 2003
‘Europe lands on Mars’ – Media event at ESA/ESOC
ESA’s Mars Express probe is scheduled to arrive at Mars at Christmas: the Beagle 2 lander is expected to touch down on the surface of the Red Planet during the night of 24 to 25 December.
November 13th, 2003
Going to Mars for Christmas
Europe’s mission to the Red Planet, Mars Express, is on schedule to arrive at the planet on Christmas Day, 2003. “The lander, Beagle 2, is due to descend through the Martian atmosphere and touch down also on 25 December.