From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Sat Dec 06 2003 - 22:03:50 PST
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike M.
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 5:26 AM
To:
Subject: SETI public: upcoming Mars landings
Here are the dates of, and some information about, the upcoming Mars
missions: 2 orbiters, 2 mobile rovers, 1 non-mobile lander (and 2 orbiters
which are still orbiting Mars from previous missions). If and when life is
discovered on Mars, it will be a major historical event.
~Mike
Source:
http://planetary.org/mars/missions.html
http://www.planetary.org/learn/missions/marsmissions.html
December 26, 2003 - European Space Agency's Mars Express and Beagle 2 lander
(orbiter and lander)
The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft will image the entire
globe of Mars in more detail than any previous mission. Launched on June 2,
2003 and scheduled to arrive on December 26, Mars Express will bring seven
different science instruments to bear on the Red Planet. Five days before
their arrival, the tiny, 30-kilogram Beagle 2 lander will push off from the
orbiter, dropping onto the Martian surface on December 26. Beagle 2 carries
a powerful suite of instruments that it will use to study the geology and
climate at its landing site and to search for evidence of life, extinct or
extant, on Mars.
January 4, 2004 - NASA spirit (rover)
NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers, now named "Spirit" and "Opportunity,"
are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic
geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three
spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a
human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100
meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an
environment where humans can't yet go. Spirit is due to arrive at the Red
Planet on January 4, 2004.
January 25, 2004 - NASA Opportunity (rover)
NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers, now named "Spirit" and "Opportunity,"
are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic
geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three
spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a
human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100
meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an
environment where humans can't yet go. Opportunity is scheduled to arrive
at Mars on January 24, 2004.
January ?, 2004 - Japan Nozomi (orbiter)
Nozomi (Japanese for "hope"), formerly known as PLANET-B, is the first
Japanese Mars orbiter. It was originally scheduled to arrive at Mars in
October 1999, but a failure of a thruster valve during an Earth swing-by on
December 20, 1998 caused it to miss its original transfer opportunity. In
order to preserve Nozomi's fuel, mission planners developed a new orbit
including two more Earth swing-bys that would allow it to arrive at Mars in
January of 2004. Nozomi is dedicated to studying Mars's upper atmosphere,
particularly its interaction with the solar wind.
September 11, 1997 - USA Mars Global Surveyor (orbiter)
Since March 1999, MGS has provided scientists with a wealth of images and
data. Its primary mission was completed on January 31, 2001. It is now well
into its extended mission and continues to return images and data from Mars.
October 24, 2001 - USA Odyssey (orbiter)
Odyssey arrived at Mars on October 24, 2001. Its mapping mission is now
underway. It is capturing images of the Martian surface at resolutions
between those of Viking and Mars Global Surveyor, and is making both
daytime and nighttime observations of the surface in thermal infrared
wavelengths at resolutions higher than ever before.
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