R.F. Turner

Charles Darwin, famous for his theory of evolution, made his voyages of exploration in the ship HMS Beagle. It is the hope of some scientists that the proposed international Beagle II will make a voyage of exploration to the Mars of similar importance. The Mars-Express mission is targeted for a relatively low energy trajectory opportunity in 2003 when the relative position of the Earth and Mars are favourable. This will place the payload mass within the capability of the economical Russian Molniva launcher. With the USA intending to launch two missions to Mars (a lander and an orbiter) every 26 months for the next 9 years, ESA has announced its desire to participate in this Martian exploration phase and will fund the launch and operation of an orbiter. Provision has been made to include a lander or a number of small landers (penetrators) within the mission provided that national (non ESA) funding is available. It is desirable that science of Mars-Express contributes to the overall exploration of Mars and does not merely duplicate a previous mission. The designers of the Beagle II lander are anxious that the science to be formed will be first class and are concentrating upon exobiology and geochemistry - direct sampling and analysis of surface and subsurface with the minimum mass of lander, there is a need to consider the mobility of part of the payload, not only enhanced science but for public interest and perception. Landing on Mars is in someways more difficult than landing upon Earth, the presentation will discuss the system concepts being investigated by the international Beagle II team.

10. Raumfahrt-Kolloquium an der Fachhochschule Aachen; 1997

Conference Paper

englisch

21,0 x 29,7 cm, 28 Seiten

DGLR-Bericht, 1997, 1997-03, 10. Raumfahrt-Kolloquium an der Fachhochschule Aachen; S.53-80; 1997; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V., Bonn

0,00 €

raumfahrt, mars exploration, beagle ii

Bibliothek

1997