Mission

Link: Mars Express web site - http://mars.esa.int

Mars Express is Europe’s first spacecraft to the Red Planet. It carries seven instruments and a lander. The orbiter instruments are soon to remotely investigate the Martian atmosphere, surface and subsurface. Beagle 2, the lander, will perform on-the-spot measurements and also search for signs of past life.

Mars has always been a source of intrigue and fascination. It is currently the only planet in the Solar System on which there is a strong possibility of finding life - past, or perhaps present. It is a prime candidate for future manned exploration, and even colonisation

A Planetary Detective

Recent space missions have revealed a wealth of knowledge about Mars, but have also raised many questions. What forces, for example, created the spectacular features in the martian landscape? When did they cease? Or do some still act today? Was early Mars really warm and wet? If so, where did the water and atmosphere go? Did life evolve there? And is primitive life still thriving, perhaps associated with underground aquifers?

The Mars Express mission will help to answer these questions and many more by mapping the martian sub-surface, surface, atmosphere and ionosphere from orbit and by conducting observations and experiments on the surface. "We are addressing a series of noble scientific objectives," says Agustin Chicarro, Mars Express Project Scientist at ESA. "As well as helping to answer the big questions about water and life, our investigations will provide clues as to why the north of the planet is so smooth and the south so rugged, how the Tharsis and Elysium mounds were lifted up, and whether active volcanoes exist on Mars today. We should also find out about the minerals in the rocks and the composition of the atmosphere in greater detail than ever before."

The Orbiter will:

• Image the entire surface at high resolution (10 m/pixel) and selected areas at super resolution (2 m/pixel)
• Produce a map of the mineral composition of the surface at 100 m resolution
• Map the composition of the atmosphere and determine its global circulation
• Determine the structure of the sub-surface to a depth of a few kilometres
• Determine the effect of the atmosphere on the surface
• Determine the interaction of the atmosphere with the solar wind

The Beagle 2 lander will:

• Determine the geology and the mineral and chemical composition of the landing site
• Search for life signatures (exobiology)
• Study the weather and climate

Fact Sheet

Mars Express is Europe's first mission to Mars. Indeed, it is the first, fully European mission to any planet. It consists of an orbiter, housing seven instruments for remote sensing observations of the planet, and a lander - Beagle 2 - for on-the-spot measurements of Martian rock and soil.

It is called Mars Express because it has been built more quickly than any other comparable planetary mission. It has taken only one year to go from engineering concept to start of development, compared to the usual five. This new streamlined development method will continue with the Venus Express mission. The approach leads to faster, more cost-effective missions. Mars Express has been developed for about half the cost of previous, similar missions.

Objectives

From orbit, Mars Express will scan the surface and atmosphere of the planet using seven principal instruments. They will:

• Search for signs of water down to a few kilometres underground.
• Map the Martian surface more accurately than ever before (in colour and stereo).
• Determine the detailed composition of the surface.
• Determine the density and composition of the atmosphere.
• Study the interaction of the solar wind with the planet.

The lander, Beagle 2, will:

• Investigate the geology of the landing site.
• Monitor the weather and climate of the landing site.
• Like the orbiter, look for signs of life, extinct or still living.

Cost

Mars Express will cost approximately 300 million Euros. This includes the launch, the spacecraft, the scientific payload (including the lander) and operations. Together with Rosetta and Venus Express, Mars Express forms a family of missions where costs are shared.

Launch date

Mars Express launched on 2 June 2003. It left Earth shortly before Earth and Mars make their closest approach to each other for 17 years. This is the best time to make the journey in terms of time and fuel economy.

Launcher

Soyuz-Fregat rocket-upper stage combination, provided by Starsem, the European/Russian launcher consortium.

Journey

Mars Express left Earth with a velocity of 10 800 kilometres per hour and will cruise through interplanetary space for six months before reaching Mars. Once at the Red Planet, Mars Express will enter a large, elliptical 'capture' orbit, from which it will progress into its operational orbit.

Mars Express's operational orbit is nearly polar, with an inclination of 86°. During the first 440 days of its mission, it will sweep from 11 560 kilometres altitude (apocentre) to 259 kilometres (pericentre). After 440 days, however, its orbit will change to an apocentre of 10 107 kilometres and a pericentre of 298 kilometres. This small shift is necessary to capture the best scientific data.

Planned mission lifetime

Mars Express is expected to arrive at Mars in late December 2003. It will then operate for at least one Martian year (687 Earth days). This section of the mission is funded. The spacecraft is designed to operate for a further Martian year, depending on available funds.

Beagle 2 will detach from the main spacecraft six days before entry into Martian orbit and land on the Martian surface. It is expected to work for 180 Martian days (about six Earth months).

Mission timeline

Launch: 2 June 2003
Interplanetary journey: June- December 2003
Arrival of orbiter at Mars: 25 December 2003
Beagle-2 lander release: 6 days prior to arrival of orbiter
Operational orbit reached: early January 2004
Start of commissioning and scientific measurements: early January 2004
Radar antenna deployment: February 2004

Spacecraft

Design

Mars Express is a honeycombed aluminium box, within which all the systems and the payload are fixed. Although this shell, known as the bus, was designed especially for the mission, wherever possible, off-the-shelf components were used. Also technology designed for Rosetta was reused. Both approaches have helped to keep the cost of building the spacecraft down.

Mass

1200 kilograms in total (including 113 kilograms of payload, 65 kilograms of lander, and about 430 kilograms of propellant).

Dimensions

1.5 by 1.8 by 1.4 metres (excluding solar panels). With solar panels extended, Mars Express measures about 12 metres across.

Industrial involvement

The prime contractor is Astrium, Toulouse (France). They are leading a consortium of 24 companies from ESA's 15 Member States and the United States. Throughout Europe, about 1000 people, both engineers and scientists, have been directly involved in the development of Mars Express.

What's on board?

Orbiter

High Resolution Stereo Camera - HRSC - HRSC will map the entire surface of the planet in 3D, colour, and with a resolution of about 10 metres. It will image selected areas of Mars at just 2 metres resolution.

Principal Investigator: G. Neukum, Freie Universitaet , Berlin, Germany.

Energetic Neutral Atoms Analyser - ASPERA - ASPERA will measure the way particles in Mars's tenuous atmosphere interact with the solar wind, that is, energetic particles given off by the Sun. The data will allow scientists to estimate how dense the Martian atmosphere was in the past.

Principal Investigator: R. Lundin, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden.

Planetary Fourier Spectrometer- PFS - PFS will measure the sunlight reflected by Mars to calculate the composition of the planet's atmosphere and the way it varies with altitude. In particular, it will study the distribution of carbon dioxide and also surface-atmosphere interactions.

Principal Investigator: V. Formisano, IFSI-CNR, Rome, Italy.

Visible and Infrared Mineralogical Mapping Spectrometer - OMEGA -OMEGA will map the mineral composition of the surface of Mars in 100-metre squares.

Principal Investigator: J-P Bibring, Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France.

Subsurface Sounding Radar Altimeter - MARSIS - MARSIS is a 40-metre-long antenna that will use high-frequency radio waves to map the subsurface of Mars. It will probe the subsurface to a depth of a few kilometres.

Principal Investigator: G. Picardi, Università di Roma 'La Sapienza', Italy.

Radio Science Experiment - MaRS - MaRS will monitor the distortion of radio communications from Earth, due to the ionosphere and atmosphere of Mars. It will also provide insight into the gravitational field of Mars.

Principal Investigator: M. Pätzold, Institut für Geophysik und Meteorologie, Universität zu Koeln, Germany.

Ultraviolet and Infrared Atmospheric Spectrometer - SPICAM - SPICAM will investigate the composition of the atmosphere. It will be looking for ozone and water vapour, both of which are expected to be present in small quantities.

Principal Investigator: J-L Bertaux, Service d'Aeronomie du CNRS, Verrières-le-Buisson, France.

Lander (Beagle 2)

The heart of Beagle 2 is the Payload Adjustable Workbench (PAW) which is connected to the lander through a robotic arm. The PAW contains a number of instruments for studying the composition of the surface rocks. It also contains the mole, which can burrow under rocks, and the corer-grinder, which can drill into rocks to take samples. The Gas Analysis Package (GAP) will look for the presence of life, either extinct or ongoing. It is located on the lander platform and the robotic arm will feed samples to it for analysis.

Principal Investigator: C. Pillinger, Open University, United Kingdom.

Operations

Ground control

The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany will be mission control. It will communicate with the spacecraft via the 35-metre dish at New Norcia, near Perth, Australia. Mars Express will communicate information from its science instruments and 'housekeeping' data. It will also relay information from Beagle 2 every time it passes over the lander.

ESA Project Manager: Rudolf Schmidt
ESA Project Scientist: Agustin Chicarro

Source: European Space Agency - Press Kit
Mars Express web site: http://mars.esa.int