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Mars Express En Route to the Red Planet
Tuesday, June 3, 2003
The European Mars Express spaceprobe has been placed successfully in
a trajectory that will take it beyond the terrestrial environment and
on the way to Mars – getting there in late December. This first
European Space Agency probe to head for another planet will enter an
orbit around Mars, from where it will perform detailed studies of the
planet’s surface, its subsurface structures and its atmosphere. It will
also deploy Beagle 2, a small autonomous station which will land on the
planet, studying its surface and looking for possible signs of life,
past or present.
