Mars Express set to make European first

With final checks underway, the first venture to Mars by the European Space Agency (ESA) is due to launch later today.

Constructed on a shoestring budget, the spacecraft, which includes the British-built Mars lander Beagle 2, has been built in record time. But according to the ESA spacecraft is a cost-effective approach to the business of getting a lander onto the Red Planet.

Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager, said: "With Mars Express, Europe is building its own expertise in many fields. This ranges from the development of science experiments and new technologies - new for European industries - to the control of a mission that includes landing on another planet. We have never done this before".

In all the project has taken four years to come to fruition and includes much use of established technology from the 24 contracted companies involved in the consortium, representing ESA’s 15 member states and the US.

Among the science projects, it is hoped that Beagle 2 will help scientists unravel the mystery of what happened to the planet’s water. Ground-radar will be used to probe the surface for signs of water reserves under the surface.

Mars Express will be launched later today at around 6.45pm (BST) on board a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The mission consists of an orbiter and the Beagle 2 lander. Mars Express is a honeycombed aluminium box that measures 1.5 by 1.8 by 1.4 metres (excluding the solar panels), and weighs 1223 kilograms. The Beagle 2 lander will travel attached to one side of the spacecraft, folded up much like a pocket watch.

If the mission proceeds according to plan the spacecraft will enter Mars orbit in late December this year. Beagle 2 will then be deployed for a landing on the surface of Mars while the orbiter will continue to circle Mars.

Launch opportunities for Mars occur every 26 months when the planets are in close proximity in their respective orbits, but every 15 to 17 years the planets are particularly favourably aligned for a minimum boost, six-month, one-way trip to Mars.

(SP)