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Scientific objectives of the Beagle 2 lander
Pillinger, C. T.; Sims, M. R.; Wright, I. P.
Beagle 2 is the name given to the lander part of the ESA Mars Express mission (launch 2003). The main focus of Beagle 2 is to establish whether there is convincing evidence for past life on Mars, or to assess if the conditions were ever suitable. Beagle 2 also plans a globally responsive test to see if there is any present-day biological activity …
Mars express orbit design
Hechler, M.; Yanez, A.
This paper gives a survey of the orbit design, mission analysis aspects for Mars Express, the ESA mission to Mars. The emphasis is on those features which are unconventional. These are: the launch window with only 9 flight programs on the Fregat launcher upper stage for 30 launch days, and the re-targeting and Planetary protection strategy during …
State of the art, lightweight scientific experiments available for small to micro satellite missions
McKenna-Lawlor, Susan M. P.
A selection of light weight scientific instruments originally designed for major international missions but which, because of their modest resource requirements, can now in addition be flown aboard ' small' to ' micro' satellites are, briefly, described. These instruments have the capability to either make measurements of constituents of the Earth…