|
|
 |
|
Mars Express is the first 'flexible mission' in the revised
ESA long-term scientific programme. Beagle2 and Mars Express
were launched aboard a Soyuz rocket with Fregat upper stage
boosters from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 18:45:28
BST on June 2nd 2003.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The spacecraft will carry a remote observation payload with some heritage from European instruments lost on the ill-fated Russian Mars 96 mission, as well as a lander communications package to support Mars lander missions from 2003 to 2007. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars in late December 2003.
As a result of the relative positions of Mars and Earth in 2003, a launch during this window offers the shortest journey, the minimum transit time, allowing the maximum payload with the reduced fuel requirements.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
