Mars Express Orbiter gets a lease of life, the mission have been extended one Martian year (23 months) from early December 2005.
Great new! Also for Marsis...
Hoping next year they will release more imagery!
Reply 7:
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=1365
Mars Express gets a third extension, to December 31, 2009.
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMACI05VQF_0.html
(And so do Venus Express and Cluster)
The Express missions may not be media stars, but it's relieving to see these rugged probes keeping our eyes open on Venus and Mars when new launches are put in jeopardy by the caprices of economy.
That is a little bit concerning, Mars Express, together with Cluster and INTEGRAL, is slated for termination at the end of December 2022. "https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/integral, [whatever this really means], ESA would like to engage in a creative process for these missions and develop innovative concepts that [...] would make it attractive for the SPC to re-evaluate their decision." What's funny is that the https://sci.esa.int/web/director-desk/-/extended-operations-confirmed-for-science-missions of the mission extensions fails to give a direct indication of such a severe decision.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Mars_and_Jupiter_moons_meet
Though I think the description of the distance from Mars Express in the article is off, surely by an order of magnitude, at least?
Certainly wrong, as Mars Express cannot get close to Deimos.
I think 12000 and 28000 km is probably right.
Phil
In regard to the last sentence of the https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Mars_and_Jupiter_moons_meet, it is important to note that Mars Express is currently only https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2022/EPSC2022-1136.html, further extensions are subject to ESA budget allocations at the upcoming https://vision.esa.int/cm22/ in November 2022, which seem to be https://www.spaceintelreport.com/esas-seeking-a-big-budget-boost-from-november-ministers-meeting-but-science-increase-is-zero/ in respect to space science. From the https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2022/EPSC2022-1080.html, Mars Express is still going strong and an extension of operations even into the 2030s is feasible.
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?eid=NzZyMGZ1bGs5bGxhcGVoMHJvYTRlczRlaXEgYTBkZ3VlYWZwdTRxc29vaGFyY2hrYTdrZXNAZw&ctz=Europe/Madrid is coming! Meanwhile, the Mars Express team is https://www.scienzeplanetarie.it/2023/01/04/supporto-allestensione-della-missione-mars-express-2023-2025/ of the scientific community for the extension of the mission.
https://sci.esa.int/web/director-desk/-/extended-life-for-esa-s-science-missions
[...] ESA's Science Programme Committee (SPC) has confirmed the continued operations of ten scientific missions in the Agency's fleet. [...] The decision was taken during the SPC meeting in Antwerp, Belgium, on 7 March. [...]
The extension of three ESA-led missions, Cluster, Integral and Mars Express, all of which have been operational since over 20 years, were in jeopardy financially, as two new major missions (JUICE and Euclid) will be joining the fleet of missions in operations this year. For all three missions, ESA received strong and well-justified requests from the scientific community to extend the missions. ESA’s scientific advisory structure (the Astronomy Working Group, the Solar System Exploration Working Group, and the Space Science Advisory Committee) reviewed the science cases and supported further limited extensions. Thanks to some significant programmatic risks (related to JUICE and Euclid) having recently been retired, the SPC agreed to extend these three missions for a limited amount of time, using part of the Programme contingency in the years 2023-2025. [...]
The science operations of Mars Express are extended until end of 2026 and the SPC also approved the indicative extension of Mars Express from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2028, enabling support to the JAXA-led Mars Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. This will be followed by two years of post-operations; the extension to 2028 will be reviewed in 2025/2026, after MMX launch and arrival at Mars. [...]
Yahoo!!!
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