Mars Express

Mars Express is a <a href="/facts/Space_exploration/2eKXYVdq">space exploration</a> mission being conducted by the <a href="/facts/European_Space_Agency/L8YRNV0C">European Space Agency</a> (ESA). The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet <a href="/facts/Mars/AQGtVvz0">Mars</a>, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the <a href="/facts/Spacecraft/YQqQaUw0">spacecraft</a> was designed and built. However, "Express" also describes the spacecraft's relatively short interplanetary voyage, a result of being launched when the orbits of Earth and Mars brought them closer than they had been in about 60,000 years.
Mars Express consists of two parts, the Mars Express Orbiter and <a href="/facts/Beagle_2/23Srm0y0">Beagle 2</a>, a <a href="/facts/Lander_(spacecraft)/dVYjPJlx">lander</a> designed to perform <a href="/facts/Exobiology/GS1tFhrf">exobiology</a> and geochemistry research. Although the lander failed to fully deploy after it landed on the Martian surface, the orbiter has been successfully performing scientific measurements since early 2004, namely, <a href="/facts/Image_resolution/NAL4uFV9">high-resolution</a> imaging and mineralogical mapping of the surface, radar sounding of the subsurface structure down to the permafrost, precise determination of the <a href="/facts/Atmospheric_circulation/ttBhVwUt">atmospheric circulation</a> and composition, and study of the interaction of the <a href="/facts/Atmosphere_of_Mars/DKT5TMlY">atmosphere</a> with the <a href="/facts/Interplanetary_medium/lnUR4gHd">interplanetary medium</a>.
Due to the valuable science return and the highly flexible mission profile, Mars Express has been granted several mission extensions. The latest was approved on March 7, 2023, consisting of a confirmed operating period until December 31, 2026, and a further provisional extension to December 31, 2028. 
Some of the instruments on the orbiter, including the camera systems and some <a href="/facts/Spectrometers/IqRE8xaQ">spectrometers</a>, reuse designs from the failed launch of the Russian <a href="/facts/Mars_96/R3YLfd37">Mars 96</a> mission in 1996 (European countries had provided much of the instrumentation and financing for that unsuccessful mission). The design of Mars Express is based on ESA's <a href="/facts/Rosetta_space_probe/ASd7ggs3">Rosetta mission</a>, on which a considerable sum was spent on development. The same design was also used for ESA's <a href="/facts/Venus_Express/tU5cQTfc">Venus Express</a> mission in order to increase reliability and reduce development cost and time. Because of these redesigns and repurposings, the total cost of the project was about $345 million- less than half of comparable U.S. missions.
Arriving at Mars in 2003, 21 years, 3 months and 10 days ago (and counting), it is the second longest surviving, continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth, behind only NASA's still active <a href="/facts/2001_Mars_Odyssey/KapXFdK4">2001 Mars Odyssey</a>.

Mars Express open-in-new

Mars Express