By Rob Coppinger in Rome
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft could be used to relay communications for its Exomars rover mission.
Mars Express, which is currently surveying the planet, ends its mission in 2007, but could operate for much longer. Launching in 2011 to arrive in 2013, the c600 million ($760 million) Exomars mission is a rover without an orbiter. Under existing plans it would rely on NASA spacecraft. Issues that have to be addressed in order for Mars Express to operate as a relay include its fuel levels and battery and reaction wheel life. “If we had instrument failure and the science mission ended we could do this,” said ESA head of mission operation department Werner Frank, speaking at last week’s AIAA/Italian space agency space operations conference in Rome.
But ESA is not sure if the spacecraft has four or 10 years of fuel left. This is due to the trapping of fuel behind a membrane within the fuel tank during a manoeuvre on its arrival. Studies show that the batteries could last long enough, as could the reaction wheels, but current science work would have to be curtailed due to the need to conserve energy expenditure for spacecraft attitude adjustments. However, in early July ESA will decide if it is to add an orbiter to Exomars, costing an extra c175 million and delaying the mission to 2016.
Source: Flight International
