Moscow, Feb 15: A European space satellite will be
launched on May 23 aboard a Russian rocket to confirm whether here is water on the planet mars, the Russian space agency has announced.
Mars Express, developed by European Space Agency (ESA), will be launched aboard the space rocket Soyuz-frigate from the Russian cosmodrome at Baikonur in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan.
The Russian space agency said yesterday the mission would take several months to reach mars, Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The satellite has a British-made rover module, Beagle-2,
programmed to detach itself from the orbiter, land on Mars and analyse soil samples, mainly in search of water.
But the range of the equipment it will carry will be severely restricted by weight requirements. A more complete
knowledge of the planet's history can only be derived from
testing the samples on earth.
Costs for the Mars express programme are running at some 230 million Euros.
The launch was originally scheduled for mid-March, with
the satellite arriving on Mars by the end of 2003.
Bureau Report
