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W4DPH > SAT 23.03.03 03:32l 36 Lines 1451 Bytes #999 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS-082.07
Read: DB0FHN GUEST
Subj: Mars Express Another Step Closer to Delivery
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<DB0FSG<DB0SIF<DB0CWS<DB0ZDF<DB0GE<LX0PAC<LX0HST<HA3PG<
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Sent: 030323/0136Z @:W4DPH.#TPA.FL.USA.NOAM #:51527 [CLW] FBB $:ANS-082.07
From: W4DPH@W4DPH.#TPA.FL.USA.NOAM
To : SAT@AMSAT
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 082.07 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. March 23, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-082.07
Mars Express, the first European spacecraft to visit the planet Mars, has
completed its tests at Toulouse, France. After six months extensive thermal
environmental, mechanical and electric tests, the spacecraft with the Beagle
2 lander will leave for Baikonur, Kazakhstan on 19 March 2003 onboard an
Antonov 124 aircraft. It will be launched early June 2003 onboard a Russian
Soyuz-Fregat rocket.
The spacecraft will benefit from an exceptionally favourable launch window
in June 2003; at this date, the distance separating the planets Earth and
Mars will be minimal, an opportunity only occurring all 17 years. From
December 2003, Mars Express will be inserted into an elliptical quasi-polar
orbit.
Seven scientific instruments on the orbiter will perform the following
tasks: global high-resolution imaging, global mineralogical mapping, global
atmospheric circulation and mapping of the atmospheric composition, radar
sounding of the subsurface structure, study of surface-atmosphere
interactions, and interaction of the atmosphere with the interplanetary
environment.
Mars Express will also carry the Beagle 2 lander which will detach from the
spacecraft and land on the Martian surface. It will collect and
[ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information.]
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