News archive

News archive

ESA PR 59-2002 See Mars Express before its departure to the Red Planet
Mars Express, to be launched in May-June 2003 on its six-month journey to Mars, is presently being put through a test campaign at INTESPACE, Toulouse, France. The spacecraft, which will be undertaking Europe's first mission to the Red Planet, is to be presented at a special press event being held in Toulouse on 18 September.
Published: 5 September 2002
No place for life to hide from Mars Express
Of all missions sent to Mars only one, the Viking 26 years ago, has dared to search for life. Its only conclusive result was that finding proof of extraterrestrial life proved to be much harder than expected. Second attempts never followed. Until now. ESA's Mars Express, the next mission to the Red Planet and the first European one, has an ambitious goal. To be launched in 2003, Mars Express will be the first spacecraft after Viking to search for direct and indirect evidence for past or present life on Mars. This time, scientists are equipped with more knowledge and insight in how to detect Martian life. The chances of success look very good.
Published: 3 September 2002
ESA PR 52-2002 A little bit of Ferrari takes off to the Red Planet!
What is the fastest Ferrari's distinctive red paint has ever travelled? Next year it will be 10800 km/h! Mars Express, to be launched in May/June 2003, the first European spacecraft to visit the Red Planet, will be speeding on its way accompanied by the very essence of Ferrari: a sample of its distinctive red paint.
Published: 21 July 2002
And now the weather ... on Mars!
Blinding dust storms can seriously ruin your plans for a landing on Mars. ESA is adapting the global climate models that we use to forecast our weather on Earth for the turbulent conditions that Mars offers its future visitors.
Published: 3 July 2002
Mars Express has the sophisticated science to find the water ice on Mars
"The presence of such a large amount of water ice under Mars's surface is very surprising. Especially so close to the surface!" says Gerhard Schwehm, Head of the Planetary Missions Division at ESA. The team working on ESA's Mars Express, the next mission to the Red Planet, is thrilled by NASA's Mars Odyssey detection of hydrogen-rich layers under the Martian surface. This hydrogen indicates the presence of water ice in the top surface of the Martian soil in a large region surrounding the planet's south pole. ESA's Mars Express, ready for launching in June 2003, has the tools for searching much deeper below the surface, down to a few kilometres.
Published: 30 May 2002
Martian spots warrant a close look
Are dark spots that appear near the south pole of Mars in early spring, a sign of life on the Red Planet? No-one can say for sure, according to a group of scientists who met at ESTEC, ESA's technical centre in the Netherlands. But the spots are certainly fascinating, the meeting agreed, and well worth a detailed look by Mars Express, the European Space Agency's Mars mission, when it goes into orbit around the Red Planet in late 2003.
Published: 12 March 2002
'Dummy' news: 'A small planet with dramatic landscapes'
Dramatic landscapes.
Published: 6 March 2002
2003 missions will go to Mars with Christmas spirit
In two year's time, the planet Mars will receive a Christmas present from planet Earth - a flotilla of spacecraft. Gifts from different nations, the spacecraft will share communications channels to solve a problem which will intensify as Mars exploration gathers pace: how to relay the data gathered by so many missions back to Earth.
Published: 20 December 2001
Mars Express strikes a musical note
Listen to the soundtrack accompanying this movie and you may think it reminiscent of some avant-garde music. The sound is, in fact, representative of the vibration the Mars Express spacecraft will experience during launch.
Published: 1 November 2001
Europeans get the bug to go to Mars
The Mars Society, the US-born group lobbying for the human exploration of Mars, is expanding into Europe.
Published: 8 October 2001
A sample from Mars? A topic for discussion at the Meteoritical Society Meeting in Rome
By studying lunar samples meteoriticists have contributed hugely to our understanding of the Moon. A sample-return mission to Mars would provide the community with a rich resource with which to investigate our nearest neighbour.But when will there be a such a mission? A meeting to be held in Rome will provide the meteoritical community with an opportunity to express their interest in a sample-return mission to Mars.
Published: 3 September 2001
Mars Express spacecraft testing begins
The structural model of the Mars Express spacecraft arrived at Intespace, Toulouse on 29 August to begin its first system level test campaign. During this six-week campaign, the spacecraft will be subjected to mechanical qualification tests to ensure the integrity of the structure during launch.
Published: 30 August 2001
Europe to identify underground water on Mars
Geologists poring over the latest images from Mars keep on turning up new and tantalising evidence that water once flowed freely on the planet's surface - and may still flow from time to time. If their interpretation is right, underground aquifers or ice layers should be commonplace on the planet. Yet no spacecraft flown so far has been capable of identifying them.
Published: 27 August 2001
Mars Express passes milestone with flying colours
As space engineers and scientists met last month for a final review of the Mars Express spacecraft design, the spacecraft itself was taking shape at the premises of Alenia, Torino, Italy. "Normally, we would have the critical design review (CDR) after tests of the spacecraft structural model (SM tests) have been completed. But because of the tight schedule for Mars Express, most of the review had to be completed early. We've done all the reviewing we can. A few items have to wait until after the SM tests," says Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager.
Published: 10 August 2001
2nd Announcement of Opportunity for the Mars Express mission
The European Space Agency solicits the participation of the scientific community in the Mars Express Orbiter and Lander Programme to further increase the scientific return of the selected investigations and of the mission as a whole, through this Announcement of Opportunity (AO).
Published: 23 June 2001
Mars Express team returns from reconnaissance mission to Baikonur
Members of the Mars Express project and industrial teams travelled to the steppes of Kazakhstan last month to inspect the Baikonur cosmodrome where Mars Express will be launched on board a Soyuz-Fregat rocket in June 2003.
Published: 20 June 2001
Mars Express to investigate Phobos
Phobos, the tiny innermost moon of Mars, is to come under unprecedented scrutiny after Europe's mission to Mars goes into orbit around the Red Planet late in 2003. Mars Express is due to pass within 3000 km of the 22 km diameter moon a few hundred times during its two-year nominal mission lifetime.
Published: 7 June 2001
Call for ideas for the re-use of the MARS EXPRESS Platform - update
Updated: A list of submitted proposals for the re-use of the Mars Express platform has been added.27-Mar-2001 A briefing to interested parties on the Call for Ideas for the re-use of the Mars Express platform took place at ESA Headquarters, Paris, on 23 March 2001.
Published: 22 May 2001
Europe goes to Mars - preparations are well under way
If you live in Europe, there's almost certainly a research institute or industrial company near you that is contributing materials or expertise to Mars Express, Europe's first mission to the Red Planet. Under the umbrella of the European Space Agency, at least 25 companies from 15 European countries are building hardware or software for the spacecraft, or otherwise contributing their expertise; and more than 200 scientists from research institutes in all ESA member states and beyond are contributing towards the scientific payload. "The Mars Express project is providing about 1000 jobs throughout Europe," estimates Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager at ESTEC, the European Space Agency's technical centre in the Netherlands.
Published: 6 April 2001
Mars keeps turning up surprises
It was standing room only for the "Water and life on Mars" session at the European Geophysical Society's General Assembly in Nice last week. "This shows that the life issue is by no means dead. This was a very lively session," commented Agustin Chicarro, Project Scientist for ESA's Mars Express mission.
Published: 5 April 2001
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