The European Space Agency's (ESA) Science Programme Committee has endorsed the preliminary stage in the development of the Mars Express mission. The craft will enter orbit around the Red Planet and deposit up to four landers on the surface after launch on a Russian Soyuz U booster scheduled for 2003 (Flight International, 24-30 September).
NASA has also expressed interest in the Mars Express, to replace or complement its planned Mars Surveyor 2003 spacecraft. NASA participation would provide vital funding for the project, which is otherwise in danger of being abandoned unless ESA can increase a science budget which has been frozen since 1995.
Under present plans, ESA would provide funds for the Mars Express orbiter, but the landers will be funded separately by member states involved. These will include the UK, proposing the largest lander, the 90kg Beagle 2, in co-operation with France and Germany.
The Beagle would incorporate a small vehicle to take bore samples of the Martian soil for in situ analysis. The other smaller landers would weigh a combined 90kg and the orbiter would carry about 120kg of instruments.o
Source: Flight International
