SPACEFLIGHT
Get Your Ass to Mars!
European Space Agency's Mars Express
Launch Date : June 2, 2003
Landing Date : December 27, 2003
A SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH!!!!!!
Mars Express, which features an orbiter and a lander, is a European Space Agency mission designed as a low-cost, fast-track effort. Countries involved include France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Spain, Japan, and the United States.
Mission
The mission's main objective is to search for sub-surface water from orbit and drop a lander on the Martian surface. The busy lander will also deploy a mole capable of crawling short distances across the surface and burrowing beneath large boulders to collect soil samples. The primary aim of these experiments will be to see if any evidence of past life processes near the landing site remains.
Hardware
Seven scientific instruments onboard the orbiting spacecraft will perform a series of remote sensing experiments designed to shed new light on the Martian atmosphere, the planet's structure and geology. The Mars Express spacecraft and its instruments represent a truly international endeavour - a stereoscopic camera from Germany, a geological mapping device from France and an atmospheric sounder from Italy. The radar instrument, to probe for water at depths of a few kilometres below the surface, is being built jointly between Italy and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. The Beagle 2 landing craft is being designed and built in the UK. After coming to rest on the surface, Beagle 2 will perform exobiology and geochemistry research. As well as the remote observation payload the orbiter will carry a lander communications package to support international Mars lander missions from 2003 to 2007.
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