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| Period of Long Eclipses Ending |
| Overall Mission and Payload Status
The Mars Express payload operations continue to run smoothly, with scientific instruments operating normally and the spacecraft in good condition. The period of long eclipses, from January to February 2005, is ending without any power or thermal problem to date. |
| Date: 15 Feb 2005 |
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| Favourable Observing Conditions for Optical Imaging |
| Overall Mission and Payload Status
The Mars Express payload operations continue to run smoothly, with the spacecraft and all operating scientific instruments in good condition. |
| Date: 01 Dec 2004 |
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| Mars Express Status Report - November 2004 |
| Mission Status
Following a successful period of science data taking in July and early August, end-August and most of September were dominated by a solar conjunction. In such a situation Mars is located diagonally across the Sun, as seen from Earth. Such a constellation blocks efficient radio communications and the spacecraft was prepared to survive extended periods of no contact. In this period almost no science data could be taken. On the egress from conjunction all spacecraft systems were nominal. |
| Date: 29 Nov 2004 |
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| End of Solar Conjunction Period |
| Overall Mission and Payload Status Most scientific payload operations were suspended between 22 August and 27 September, due to a period of solar conjunction. During this time, however, radio science (MaRS) experiments of the solar corona were carried out. On the egress from conjunction all spacecraft systems were nominal. |
| Date: 07 Oct 2004 |
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| Solar Conjunction Period |
| Overall Mission and Payload Status
The commanding of the Mars Express routine science operations through the Payload Operations Service at RAL in the UK is proceeding well, and the corresponding planning is being performed about 10 weeks ahead of the execution of scientific activities. Currently the achieved planning covers the scientific activities to be performed up to November 2004. |
| Date: 02 Sep 2004 |
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| Start of Routine Science Operations Phase |
| Overall Mission Status
Mars Express spacecraft and science operations are proceeding well. The Commissioning Results Review was held on 3 June 2004 and concluded the Mars Commissioning phase. The Mars Express mission has subsequently entered the routine phase of its science operations. |
| Date: 02 Jul 2004 |
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| Updated Information on Mars Mission |
Overall Mission Status
The overall operational performance of all spacecraft subsystems is good. Following difficulties encountered with the Solid State Mass Memory (SSMM) in the March-April timeframe, the upload of a new Solid State Mass Memory software version took place successfully in mid-April. No science operations were possible during the few days dedicated to this operation. |
| Date: 11 May 2004 |
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| Commissioning Almost Complete |
Overall Mission Status
Since the last status report, the overall operational performance of the spacecraft and payload continued to be satisfactory. Some temporary problems were encountered with the Solid State Mass Memory (SSMM), which are currently under investigation. |
| Date: 31 Mar 2004 |
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| Spacecraft Commissioning Continues |
Overall Mission Status The mapping orbit of Mars Express was reached on 28 January 2004. All manoeuvres leading to that orbit were executed with very high accuracy. The operational performance of the spacecraft and payload is excellent, and all instruments have been successfully checked out. Remaining commissioning activities will be performed until about mid-April, when the MARSIS radar will be deployed and subsequently fully commissioned. |
| Date: 19 Feb 2004 |
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| Mars Express Commissioning and Early Results |
Overall Mission Status
The Mars Express orbiter was successfully inserted into orbit around Mars on 25 December 2003. Since then several manoeuvres have been performed using the spacecraft's main engine (plane turn manoeuvre and apocentre reductions) and several further manoeuvres will be performed, using the on-board thrusters, until the mapping orbit is reached on 28 January 2004. |
| Date: 23 Jan 2004 |
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| Mars Express Status Report - November 2003 |
Summary of overall status 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.
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| Date: 28 Nov 2003 |
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| Mars Express Status Report - October 2003 |
| The Mars Express spacecraft is in good health and is operating normally. |
| Date: 15 Oct 2003 |
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| Mars Express Status Report - September 2003 |
| Halfway to its destination, the Mars Express spacecraft and its subsystems continue to behave in a nominal manner. |
| Date: 16 Sep 2003 |
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| Mars Express Status Report - August 2003 |
| Now in interplanetary cruise more than 20 million kilometers from Earth, the Mars Express spacecraft platform subsystems (thermal, power, attitude and orbit control, on-board data handling) continue to behave in a nominal manner.
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| Date: 25 Aug 2003 |
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| Mars Express Status Report - July 2003 |
| Spacecraft platform subsystems (thermal, power, attitude and orbit control, on-board data handling) behave in a nominal manner. Spacecraft commissioning will continue into the end of July. Payload commissioning, including the Beagle-2 lander checkout, will be completed by mid-July.
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| Date: 08 Jul 2003 |
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| Mars Express Status Report - June 2003 |
| All operations planned for the Launch and Early Operations Phase (LEOP) have been completed and the near-Earth verification phase has commenced as planned. All operations are now being conducted via the high gain antenna, which is the nominal configuration. |
| Date: 24 Jun 2003 |
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