Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London
16th April 2003
10.30 to 2.00 inc. lunch

The countdown begins! With less than two months to go until the launch of
Mars Express – the European Space Agency’s mission to Mars – this is your
opportunity to here about the science behind the overall mission.

Members of the media are cordially invited to attend a pre-launch press
briefing at the Royal Society, London on Wednesday 16th April.

Programme

10.00 a.m. Registration and coffee
10.30 a.m. Science presentations
11.15 a.m. Q and A’s
11.45 a.m. Interviews
12.15 p.m. Lunch
2.00 p.m. End of briefing

Speakers

* Welcome and introduction

Professor Ian Halliday, Chief Executive Officer, Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council

* Mars Express Overview

Dr Agustin Chicarro, ESA Mars Express Project Scientist

* Beagle 2

Professor Colin Pillinger, Open University, Consortium Leader for Beagle 2

* Closing remarks

* Q and A’s

The Principal Investigators and Co-Investigators for all of the instruments
on the orbiter and the lander will be present and available to answer
questions and conduct interviews.

Media Registration

To confirm your attendance please contact Gill Ormrod at the PPARC press
office by Friday 11th April. Tel: 01793 442012. Email:
gill.ormrod@pparc.ac.uk

Interviews

Requests for interviews will be co-ordinated by Gill Ormrod on the day.
Advance notification of any specific interviews would be appreciated.

Resources

A comprehensive press pack, including images, will be available at the
briefing.
There will be models of Mars Express and Beagle 2 available for photographs.

Lunch

The briefing will be followed by a buffet lunch.

Venue

A location map can be found at: –
http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/framer.asp?page=/royalsoc/contact.htm
Nearest tube station – Piccadilly Circus

Background

Mission Objectives

Recent space missions have revealed a wealth of knowledge about Mars but
have also raised many questions about the creation and evolution of the
Martian landscape. Mars Express will help to answer these questions by
mapping the Martian sub-surface, surface, atmosphere and ionosphere from
orbit and by conducting observations and experiments on the surface.

The Orbiter will:

– Image the entire surface at high resolution and selected areas at super resolution
– Produce a map of the mineral composition of the surface at 100 m resolution
– Map the composition of the atmosphere and determine its global circulation
– Determine the structure of the sub-surface to a depth of a few kilometres
– Determine the effect of the atmosphere on the surface
– Determine the interaction of the atmosphere with the solar wind

The Beagle 2 lander will:

– Determine the geology and the mineral and chemical composition of the landing site
– Search for life signatures (exobiology)
– Study the weather and climate

Launch and flight

Mars Express will be launched by a Soyuz-Fregat launcher from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in June 2003. At this time the position of the two
planets make for the shortest possible route, a condition that occurs once
every twenty-six months. It will take the spacecraft six months to reach the
Red Planet. Five days before arrival in December 2003 Mars Express will
eject the Beagle 2 lander, which will make its way to the correct landing
site on the surface. Mars Express will remain in orbit around Mars for one
Martian year (687 Earth Days). During this time, the point of orbit closest
to Mars will move around to give the scientific instruments coverage of the
entire Martian surface at all kinds of viewing angles.

Beagle entry, descent and landing

Beagle 2 will descend to the surface, entering the atmosphere at more than
20,000 km/h. When its speed has fallen to 1600 km/h, parachutes will deploy
to slow it further. Finally large gas-filled bags will inflate to protect it
as it bounces to a halt on the landing site. Once still its solar panels
will open out and the cameras will start to take in the view. After a couple
of days the detailed rock and soil analyses will begin carried out by the
instruments mounted on the Position Adjustable Workbench (PAW).

UK Science Involvement

Whilst Mars Express is a pan European project the UK plays a significant
role in both the orbiter and the lander. The orbiter alone has 7 instruments
on it of which UK scientists are involved in the development of 3:

– ASPERA, the energetic Neutral Atoms Analyser (Mullard Space Science
Laboratory and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory).

– HRSC, the High Resolution Stereo Colour Imager (University College, London
and the Open University).

– MARSIS, the subsurface Sounding Radar/Altimeter (University College
London, Queen Mary and Westfield College and University of Bristol).

The UK plays the lead role in the development of Beagle 2, the lander
element. Consortium leader Professor Colin Pillinger of the Open University
heads up the team, which also involves scientists from the University of
Leicester and Mullard Space Science Laboratory.

Issued by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council 4 April 2003