[meteorite-list] Mars Express Orbit Lowered

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:57 2004
Message-ID: <200401042034.MAA24745_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

4 January 2004

Closing in on the Red Planet: Mars Express orbit lowered

Today at 14:13 CET [1313 UTC], ESA's Mars Express spacecraft successfully
executed an essential planned manoeuvre to reduce its orbit around the Red
Planet. A five minute burn of its main engine brought Mars Express from an
orbit apocentre (highest point) of 190,000 km to 40,000 km with a pericentre
(lowest point) of about 250 km.

Mars Express will reach its final operational orbit of about 11,000 km
apocentre and 300 km pericentre towards the end of the month after two more
scheduled orbit adjustments (main engine burns) on the nights of 6 to 7 and
10 to 11 January.

Today's key move enables ESA to pursue its Mars mission as planned. First,
scheduled scientific observations can begin mid-January and, secondly, the
search for the Beagle 2 landing module will become much more accurate.

Michael McKay, Mars Express Flight Operations Director in Darmstadt, Germany,
explains: "From the second half of January 2004 onwards, the orbiter's
instruments will be prepared to scan the atmosphere, the surface and parts of
the subsurface structure of Mars with unprecedented precision. The High
Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), for example, will take high-precision pictures
of the planet and will begin a comprehensive 3D cartography of Mars. The MARSIS
radar will be able to scan as far as four kilometres below the surface, looking
for underground water or ice. Also, several spectrometers will try to unveil the
mysteries of Martian mineralogy and the atmosphere, as well as influences from
the solar wind or seasonal changes."

Furthermore, on 7 January 2004 at 13:15 CET [1215 UTC], the lowest point
(pericentre) of the Mars Express flight path will be as close as 315 km to the
landing area of the still silent Beagle 2. The American orbiter Mars Odyssey and
several radio-telescopes on Earth have been unable to obtain a signal since
Christmas, but chances will rise with the approach of the 'mothership' to its
'baby' Beagle 2. Mars Express and Beagle 2 are the only end-to-end tested
systems, giving ESA more confidence of establishing a contact with the lander.

Today, 4 January, ESA specialists are meeting with Beagle 2 staff at ESA's
Operations Centre in Darmstadt to define a robust strategy for modes of
interaction between the ESA orbiter and the lander. Mars Express has Ultra High
Frequency (UHF) interfaces, ready to communicate with Beagle 2. In this context,
Mars Express Project Manager Dr Rudolf Schmidt and his ESA colleagues are very
much looking forward to 7 January 2004, 13:15 CET [1215 UTC]: "At this precise
time, our Mars Express orbiter is in both an ideal flight path and an ideal
communication configuration, right on top of the Beagle 2 landing area, at about
86 degrees. In this situation, we should be able to discern the slightest beep
on the Martian surface."

Today's manoeuvre was another step to the European exploration of Mars, ensuring
both orbiter operations as planned and a precise search of the Beagle 2 lander.
ESA is looking forward to an exciting Mars exploration in the next months. The
latest news will be posted, as always, at:
      http://mars.esa.int
Received on Sun 04 Jan 2004 03:34:51 PM PST