Europe plays a major part in future Mars exploration

22 November 2000

"The European programme looks very promising. Mars Express is the most complex remote sensing mission around - and Beagle 2 is the most sophisticated science lab in the whole bunch of missions so far approved or outlined," says Risto Pellinen, director of the Geophysical Research Department at the Finnish Meteorological Institute and chairman of the International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG).

The IMEWG met in Helsinki on 9-10 November to discuss the latest plans. With 40 attendees from 13 countries, it was the largest ever meeting of the group. Rather than act as a deterrent, the recent failures are opening up more opportunities for international collaboration. "Nobody can run their own Mars exploration programme. I think the mishaps have taught us that," says Pellinen.

The new programme is spread over more years than NASA's earlier plans to allow time to develop the technologies needed for the climax, a sample return mission sometime after 2010. "The slower pace may also help get more people involved," says Pellinen.

Plans up to 2003 are firm. Those in 2005 and 2007 are reasonably secure. Beyond, however, they represent a preferred strategy rather than a definite programme. In outline, they are as follows:

Date	Mission and agency	Highlights
Present	Mars Global Surveyor, NASA	Orbiter producing imaging, altimetry, composition and magnetic field data.
2001	Mars Odyssey, NASA	Orbiter carrying gamma-ray spectrometer for mapping the chemical composition of the Martian surface.
2003	Mars Express and Beagle 2, ESA	Orbiter for remote sensing of many aspects of the surface, subsurface and atmosphere of Mars, in particular search for water. Beagle 2 lander for exobiology, geochemistry and atmosphere-surface interactions.
2003	Nozomi, ISAS (Japanese Space Agency)	Orbiter to study the Martian upper atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. Observations will be coordinated with relevant observations on Mars Express.
2003	Two large Mars Rovers, NASA	Robotic explorers able to track 100m/day. Geology and search for water.
2005	Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA	Atmospheric observations to recover the lost objectives of Mars Climate Orbiter. Very detailed imaging to identify potential landing sites.
2007	Orbiter plus four Netlanders, CNES (French Space Agency)	Orbiter for remote sensing experiments plus telecommunications between the Netlanders and Earth. Netlanders will study the dynamics of the atmosphere and the internal structure of Mars by seismic sounding.
2007	TELEMARS, ASI (Italian Space Agency)	Orbiter providing powerful telecommunications link for the Netlanders and other future landers.
2007	Lander, NASA	High precision landing. Long-range, long-duration mobile science lab in preparation for a future sample return mission.
2009	Orbiter, NASA and ASI	Synthetic Aperture Radar for detailed terrain mapping.
2011- 2016	Sample Return Mission, NASA and CNES	NASA will retrieve samples from Mars and place them in orbit using a Mars Ascent Vehicle. A CNES orbiter will collect the samples and bring them back to Earth.

NASA, DLR (the German Space Agency) and ESA are all considering possible supplementary missions to this plan. NASA is considering a small "Scout" mission for launch in 2007 and DLR may decide to send a microsatellite to Mars. Spares developed for Mars Express could possibly be used to build another mission to the red planet in 2005, when ESA has a gap in its science mission launch programme. "The Mars Express platform is made for Mars. So it is worth seeing if there is any way of using this opportunity," says Pellinen.

How should the programme look after 2010? This will be the subject of the next IMEWG meeting in Florida on 9-10 April, the launch date of Mars Odyssey. One issue for discussion will be the balance to be struck between conducting more in situ observations and really going for sample return.

Last Update: 10 June 2003

Images and Videos

• Mars Express with Fregat (http://sci.esa.int/jump.cfm?oid=13378)
• Beagle 2 model (http://sci.esa.int/jump.cfm?oid=13372)

See also

• Mars Express Mission (http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=9)