Space Topics: Mars Express
Mission Facts
Spacecraft
Spacecraft mass:
Total: 1,108 kilograms (2,442 pounds)
Instruments: 113 kilograms (249 pounds) -- 7 instruments
Lander: 67 kilograms (143 pounds)
Spacecraft body: 507 kilograms (1,118 pounds)
Fuel: 428 kilograms (944 pounds)
Spacecraft description:
Box-shape body: approximately 1.2 meters by 1.8 meters
by 1.4 meters (3.9 feet by 5.9 feet by 4.6 feet)
Solar panels: about 12 meters (39 feet) tip-to-tip fully
extended
High-gain antenna: 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) diameter
MARSIS antenna: 40 meters (131 feet) fully extended
Mission Timeline
Launch: June 2, 2003
Location: Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Launch Vehicle: Russian Soyuz/Fregat
Mars arrival: December 25, 2003
Primary mission end: November 12, 2005
First extended mission end: October 2007
Mission orbit
Type: Nearly polar
Altitude: 259 to 11,560 kilometers
Period: 7.5 hours
Mission cost
Total cost: About 300 million Euro/369 million US dollars/207
million British pounds for the launch, spacecraft, scientific payload,
lander and operations
Orbiter: About 150 million Euro/179 million US dollars
Lander: About 73 million Euros/95.5 million US dollars/50
million British pounds
Together with Rosetta and Venus Express, Mars Express
forms a family of European Space Agency (ESA) missions where costs are shared.
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