Just before midnight on 2 June (23:45 local time, 19:45 CEST) a Soyuz
rocket operated by Starsem will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and
Mars Express will be on its way. The spacecraft was given the green light
to launch following completion of a successful flight readiness review on
3 May.
The Mars Express launch window opens on 23 May and lasts only four weeks.
However, just before the spacecraft was due to leave Toulouse, France, for
its trip to Baikonur in Kazakhstan, engineers discovered a fault in one of
the electronics modules. “Of course, it was the most difficult box to
remove from the spacecraft,” says with a smile Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express
Project Manager.
In view of the estimated time needed to correct the fault, the launch date
was initially put back from 23 May to 6 June, still within the launch
window. However, thanks to the skill and dedication of the engineering
team, the job was completed sooner than expected and the launch date was
brought forward.
Mars Express is currently being fuelled, an operation that takes about a
week. It will then be attached to Fregat, the Soyuz upper stage rocket
booster, and mated with the Soyuz rocket. The whole system will be rolled
out to the pad four days before launch. The journey to Mars will take six
months and the spacecraft should enter its Martian orbit on 26 December.
Europe’s contribution to the exploration of the Red Planet will begin
soon.
For more information please contact:
ESA Communication Department
Media Relations Office
Paris, France
Tel: +33(0)15369 7155
Fax: +33(0)1 5369 7690
Live images of Mars Express are available on the ESA Science website:
http://sci2.esa.int/spacecam/marsexpress.htm
For more information about the Mars Express launch campaign, visit:
http://www.esa.int/marsexpresslaunch
For more information about the ESA Science Programme, visit:
http://sci.esa.int
For more information about ESA, visit:
http://www.esa.int
For more information about Starsem, visit:
http://www.starsem.com
