TThe European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft will be delivered to the Baikonur launch center in Kazakhstan on March 19, in preparation of a planned May 23 launch aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.

Mars Express should reach the Red Planet six months after launch. The Beagle-2 probe will then land and search for sub-surface water and examine the planet's soil and environment for 180 days. Seven instruments onboard the orbiting Mars Express spacecraft will perform remote sensing measurements designed to answer questions about the Martian atmosphere, the planet's structure and geology.

The Mars Express spacecraft in orbit around Mars

ASPERA-3 is one of the scientific instruments that will fly aboard Mars Express. The scientific objectives of ASPERA-3 are to study the interaction between the solar wind and the atmosphere of Mars and to characterize the plasma and neutral gas environment in the near-Mars space. These studies will address fundamental questions directly related to the many unknowns about water on Mars. Where is it? Is it lost or frozen? If lost, how did it escape? If frozen, where is it stored? Since liquid water is the key requirement for life, a clear understanding of the fate of Martian water is crucial to resolve whether or not life existed on Mars in the past.

The ASPERA-3 instrument has four sensors to gather the data. Two of the sensors, the Electron Spectrometer (ELS) and the Ion Mass Analyzer (IMA) Imaging Detector, are being funded by NASA as a Discovery Mission of Opportunity.

Mars Express is a key element in the global Mars exploration program. The satellite will provide radio relay services between Earth and other devices to be delivered to the Martian surface between 2003 and 2007.

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