This article is about the space exploration mission. For the film, see Mars Express (film).
Mars Express
CG image of Mars Express arriving at Mars
Mission type
Mars orbiter
Operator
ESA
COSPAR ID
2003-022A
SATCAT no.
27816
Website
exploration.esa.int/mars
Mission duration
Elapsed: 21 years and 23 days since launch 20 years and 6 months at Mars
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass
1,123 kg[1]
Dry mass
666 kg (1,468 lb)
Power
460 watts
Start of mission
Launch date
June 2, 2003, 17:45 (2003-06-02UTC17:45Z) UTC
Rocket
Soyuz-FG/Fregat
Launch site
Baikonur 31/6
Contractor
Starsem
Orbital parameters
Reference system
Areocentric
Eccentricity
0.571
Periareion altitude
298 km (185 mi)
Apoareion altitude
10,107 km (6,280 mi)
Inclination
86.3 degrees
Period
7.5 hours
Mars orbiter
Spacecraft component
Mars Express
Orbital insertion
December 25, 2003, 03:00 UTC MSD 46206 08:27 AMT
Mars lander
Spacecraft component
Beagle 2
Landing date
December 25, 2003, 02:54 UTC
Instruments
High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), Visible and Infrared Mineralogical, Mapping Spectrometer (OMEGA), Sub-surface Sounding Radar Altimeter (MARSIS), Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS), Ultraviolet and Infrared Atmospheric Spectrometer (SPICAM), Energetic Neutral Atoms Analyser (ASPERA), Mars Radio Science Experiment (MaRS), Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC)
ESA Solar System insignia for the Mars Express mission
Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA). The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency.[2] "Express" originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was designed and built.[3] However, "Express" also describes the spacecraft's relatively short interplanetary voyage, a result of being launched when the orbits of Earth and Mars brought them closer than they had been in about 60,000 years.
Mars Express consists of two parts, the Mars Express Orbiter and Beagle 2,[4] a lander designed to perform exobiology and geochemistry research. Although the lander failed to fully deploy after it landed on the Martian surface, the orbiter has been successfully performing scientific measurements since early 2004, namely, high-resolution imaging and mineralogical mapping of the surface, radar sounding of the subsurface structure down to the permafrost, precise determination of the atmospheric circulation and composition, and study of the interaction of the atmosphere with the interplanetary medium.[4]
Due to the valuable science return and the highly flexible mission profile, Mars Express has been granted several mission extensions. The latest was approved on March 7, 2023, consisting of a confirmed operating period until December 31, 2026, and a further provisional extension to December 31, 2028.[5][6]
Some of the instruments on the orbiter, including the camera systems and some spectrometers, reuse designs from the failed launch of the Russian Mars 96 mission in 1996[2] (European countries had provided much of the instrumentation and financing for that unsuccessful mission). The design of Mars Express is based on ESA's Rosetta mission, on which a considerable sum was spent on development. The same design was also used for ESA's Venus Express mission in order to increase reliability and reduce development cost and time. Because of these redesigns and repurposings, the total cost of the project was about $345 million- less than half of comparable U.S. missions.[7]
Arriving at Mars in 2003, 20 years and 6 months ago (and counting), it is the second longest surviving, continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth, behind only NASA's still active 2001 Mars Odyssey.
^"Mars Express". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
^ abHowell, Elizabeth (July 26, 2018). "European Space Agency's Mars Express". Space.com. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
^"Mars Express Frequently Asked Questions". ESA. February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
^ ab"NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
^"Extended life for ESA's science missions". ESA. March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
^Speed, Richard (December 24, 2023). "ESA's Mars Express continues to avoid retirement home". The Register. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
^Announcement by the European Space Agency on the launch of the Mars Express space probe: "Mars en route for the red planet". (2004). Historic documents of 2003.Washington, DC: CQ Press. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqpac/hsdcp03p-229-9844-633819[permanent dead link]
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