Mars Express by the numbers

Mars Express by the numbers
by Staff Writers
Paris (SPX) Jun 02, 2023

Twenty years ago, on June 2, 2003, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express orbiter embarked on a journey destined to reshape our understanding of the Red Planet. The spacecraft's mission was Europe's first to Mars and it successfully entered Mars orbit in December of the same year. Its primary objectives were studying the Martian atmosphere and climate, investigating the planet's structure, geology, and mineralogy, and exploring the possibility of water on its surface.

Equipped with an advanced suite of eight instruments, Mars Express was designed to scrutinize Mars from its surface to its atmosphere. It was initially projected to have a lifespan of 687 Earth days. Yet, it has far outstripped expectations by continuing to operate two decades on.

The Mars Express orbiter is not only one of the longest-serving spacecrafts in Mars' orbit, but also one of the most successful in terms of its scientific contributions. It has facilitated over 1.8k scientific publications and trained more than 170 doctoral students with its data. Over the course of its mission, Mars Express has travelled 1.1 billion kilometers in over 24,000 orbits around Mars. These milestones were detailed in an infographic the ESA released to commemorate the mission's 15-year anniversary in 2019.

The spacecraft has provided groundbreaking insights into Mars's history, suggesting that the planet might have once been habitable with warmer and wetter conditions than previously thought. This drastically deviates from the earlier belief that Mars was perpetually frigid and desolate.

Key discoveries include signs of past water presence throughout Mars - from water-formed minerals to water-carved valleys, underground water systems, and subterranean ponds. Mars Express has traced water's influence and prevalence throughout Martian history.

The orbiter has also analyzed the Martian atmosphere, mapping the distribution and escape of gases such as water, ozone, and methane into space, and observing dust storms that engulf the planet, creating cloud formations reminiscent of those on Earth. It has also tracked rare ultraviolet auroras.

Moreover, Mars Express has detected indications of recent and intermittent volcanic and tectonic activity and mapped 98.8% of Mars's surface, producing thousands of 3D images of impact craters, canyons (including the Valles Marineris system), icy poles, and massive volcanoes.

In addition to these remarkable findings, Mars Express has studied Mars' innermost moon, Phobos, in unprecedented detail, passing as close as 45 km from it, while also observing Mars's smaller moon, Deimos.

Beyond its direct scientific contributions, Mars Express has provided crucial support to other missions in their hunt for appropriate landing sites, communication with Earth-based stations, and safe landing on the Martian surface. The spacecraft's data continues to aid scientific research and discovery and is vital for the training of budding researchers.

The Mars Express mission will continue to support Martian exploration with its latest extension slated to aid the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Mars Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, set to arrive in 2025. As the Mars Express continues to unveil secrets of the cosmos, its place in the pantheon of influential space missions remains secure.