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Europe's mission to the Red Planet nearing launch BY SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: May 5, 2003
Liftoff is scheduled for 1745 GMT (1:45 p.m. EDT; 11:45 p.m. local time). Mars Express is currently being fueled, an operation that takes about a week, the space agency said Monday. The craft will be attached to the Soyuz rocket's Fregat upper stage booster. The duo then will be mated with the Soyuz rocket in advance of rollout to the launch pad four days before liftoff. The journey to Mars will take six months and the spacecraft should enter its Martian orbit on December 26. The launch had been slated for June 6 -- a delay from May 23 after a problem was uncovered with an electronics module on the spacecraft. "Of course, it was the most difficult box to remove from the spacecraft," joked Rudi Schmidt, the Mars Express project manager. But the problem was resolved quicker than expected, allowing ESA to move up the launch to June 2. The available window to dispatch Mars Express extends to June 23. The Mars Express mission features an orbiter that will study the Red Planet from above and the tiny Beagle 2 lander that will separate from the main craft and touch down on the surface to run experiments. The orbiter aims to snap high and super-high resolution images of the planet's surface, collect data on Mars' mineral composition and study the atmosphere. Beagle 2 is designed to determine the landing site's geology, mineral and chemical composition and weather. It will also search for signs of life.
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