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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 1841.PDF
Express lift to Mars The European Space Agency is planning a fast- track project to launch a craft to Mars in 2003 TIM FURNISS/LONDON SELECTING A POSSIBLE landing craft later this summer will be the last stage in denning the science payloads for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express mission, which ESA hopes to launch in June 2003 if it receives the go-ahead in November. The decision to proceed with the $165 mil lion Mars Express mission, even with addition al contributions from interested member states, will require ESAs science programme office to make sacrifices. Other projects may have to be delayed or even cancelled. The go-ahead also depends on how keen member states really are on flying the mission. The scientific instruments for the Mars Express orbiter have already been selected and ESA has invited tenders to build the spacecraft from two consortia: Alenia/Aerospatiale and Daimler-Benz Aerospace Space Systems/Matra Marconi Space (Dasa/MMS). The Dasa-MMS link has yet to be formalised. With the launch just five years away, the pro gramme will require fast work from ESA, which has a reputation for taking its time. The June 2003 launch window provides a good opportu nity to reach Mars more quickly, because of the planet's position relative to die Earth at that time. This means that a heavier payload can be carried than would otherwise.be possible. FLEXIBLE MISSIONS "This brisk pace," says ESA, "is also fitting for the prototype of new Elexi [flexible] missions." The Mars Express will be the first of what should become a series of relatively inexpensive and quick projects introduced into ESA's sci ence programme, replacing the previous Medium class of planned missions in the agency's Cornerstone series. The Elexi missions are intended to keep down ESA costs and place more responsibility on the industrial contrac tors and scientists. ESA's Mars Express may include a lander which will return close-ups of the surface, such as this view taken by NASA's Sojourner rover in 1997 The Mars Express programme was born when the Russian Mars 96 spacecraft fell, in pieces, into the Pacific Ocean in November 1996, taking with it several European experi ments. An added factor was the tantalising evi dence that water once flowed over the Martian landscape, greatly improving the practical pos sibilities of human ventures on Mars. • ;!;HHil!HtlMHtHri F RANCE IS poised to become a leading player in the Mars Express pro gramme. Both industrial consortia bid ding to build the orbiter have strong French connections. France is also look ing at national programmes, however, and has agreed with NASA to explore joint co-operation on Mars exploration. NASA and CNES, the French space agency, have agreed to focus on the first Mars Sample Return mission, now scheduled for the middle of 2005. Baseline discussions anticipate French provision of an Ariane 5 launcher and other hardware, including the orbiter and science packages. French scientists will also participate in science activities associated with selecting the landing site for the sample return mission, and in the sample analy sis. NASA and CNES are already co operating on the 1996 Mars Global Surveyor mission. A team led by the University of Rome will contribute the subsurface radar-altimeter instrument for the Mars Express orbiter, to map the distribution of possible ice and water. The link between the solar wind and die disappear ance of water on Mars will be investigated by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, and the escape of gases from Mars will be detected by an instrument provided by France's Service d'Aeronomie. Comprehensive observations of gases, dust and weather on Mars will be made by an infrared instrument provided by Italy, while another French experiment will map the plan et's mineralogy. Germany will supply a stereo camera, with a resolution down to about 12 m, and a radio science experiment. DATA RELAY ROLE The Mars Express orbiter could also act as a data relay satellite for NASAs future Mars Surveyor programme, which includes a sample return mission planned for 2006. The UK could be the leader in providing a lander for the Mars Express, which at the moment is regarded only as an option. The UK's Open University, in conjunction widi the University of Leicester and with co-operation from other European countries, is proposing a 60kg craft, called the Beagle 2, which will be ded icated to exobiology and will carry an integrat ed package of experiments to seek evidence of possible past life on Mars. Many scientists have made an assumption that, if there was water on Mars, there must automatically have been life. The Beagle's instrument suite will include a drill to provide samples from beneath the sur face of Mars that have not been exposed to die harsh oxidising conditions on the surface. Samples would be investigated on board the craft for die presence of organic molecules indi cating life processes and other tell-tale activities of biological activity. ESA can contemplate the Mars Express mis sion because, within member states, there already exists instrumentation suitable for the task which would incur virtually no develop ment costs. The Open University, for example, has developed an evolved-gas analyser for ES Ai funded Rosetta mission to land on a comet and sample its soil. This is merefore a strong con tender for the key fife detection experiment on any Mars lander. The UK Government will not provide any funds for the programme, so the Open University will have to find an estimated $41 million from pri vate sources. If the Beagle does not materialise, its 60kg will be added to the Mars Express orbiter, enabling it to fly with a heavier science payload. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 July 1998 39
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