Mars Express, a spacecraft operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), recently conducted tests in which it relayed data gathered by NASA’s Perseverance rover back to Earth. This means the 19-year-old spacecraft has now relayed data for seven different Mars surface missions – a unique, new record!
The tests with Perseverance coincide with the orbiter’s 10th Martian anniversary. Mars Express arrived at Mars on December 25, 2003, almost 19 Earth years ago. As one Martian year is equal to approximately 687 Earth days, the spacecraft celebrated 10 Martian years in orbit on 16 October 2022.
Artist’s impression of NASA’s MER Spirit rover on the surface of Mars. Credit: NASAIn 2004, just two months after arriving at Mars, Mars Express flew over NASA’s Spirit rover.first-ever demonstration of an interagency communications network around another planetThe commands for the rover first had to be transferred from the Spirit Operations Team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , USA, to ESOC in Germany. Here they were translated into commands for Mars Express, then uplinked to the orbiter and sent down to the rover. This view of the interior slope and rim of ‘Endurance Crater’ comes from the navigation camera on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity with an assist from the ESA’s Mars Express. Opportunity took the three frames that make up this image on August 4, 2004, then transmitted them with other data to Mars Express, which in turn relayed them to Earth. Rover wheel tracks are visible in the foreground. Credit: NASA/JPLSeven further communication tests were carried out between Mars Express and NASA’s Opportunity rover in early 2008. Building on the tests with Spirit, they helped optimize ESA-NASA communication at Mars.The landing of Phoenix On May 25, 2008, Mars Express tracked the descent of the Phoenix lander and relayed the data to NASA to help confirm the data from their own orbiters. In the weeks after landing, Mars Express once again demonstrated its ability to reliably relay data from the Martian surface to Earth. This was taken on Sol 57 of target Rocknest3 using the ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager on the NASA Curiosity rover at a distance of 3.7 meters. The image was downlinked to Earth by ESA’s Mars Express orbiter via the 35m deep space ESTRACK station in New Norcia, Australia. This image was taken after a series of five ChemCam Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometer observations. Rocknest is the name of the area where Curiosity stopped for a month to perform its first mobile laboratory analyses on soil scooped from a small sand dune. Rocknest3 was a convenient nearby target of which ChemCam made more than thirty observations overall consisting of 1,500 laser shots; it was also interrogated by the arm-mounted Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer instrument. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAPIn 2012, Mars Express was trusted to relay crucial science data from NASA’s Curiosity rover back to Earth. It was a small but significant next step for interplanetary cooperation between space agencies. Early on the morning of October 6, the ESA orbiter lined up its lander communication antenna to point at Curiosity far below on the surface. For 15 minutes, the NASA rover transmitted scientific data up to the ESA satellite, before Mars Express turned to point its more powerful high-gain antenna toward Earth and began downlinking the precious information.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Nonprofit gives space for veterans to express themselves through musicThe nonprofit Soldier Songs and Voices San Antonio is giving veterans and the military a space where they can be creative and express themselves.
Read more »
UN to Track, Reach Out to Methane Emitters With Space Technology Called 'MARS'Big emitters of the heat-trapping gas methane can expect a call from the United Nations starting next year
Read more »
The Problem With Spinning SpacecraftTo send astronauts on long-term space missions, it’ll take rotating habitats to produce artificial gravity. But that’s trickier than you might think.
Read more »
Long-lost wreckage from the Challenger spacecraft discovered near Bermuda TriangleRoughly half the space shuttle Challenger, which tragically exploded in 1986, remains missing. Now, one more piece has come to light off the Florida coast.
Read more »
Satellite Sets New Relay Record for Sending Martian Messages to EarthThe 19-year-old Mars Express has now relayed data for seven different Mars ground missions, NASA's Perseverance rover being the latest.
Read more »
Traveling to Mars: A Subversive Existential Satire about SpaceTravelingtoMars is a wry, satirical spacetravel comic by MarkRussell and RobertoMeli about a nobody who's sent to Mars to claim it for corporate interests. ABLAZE
Read more »