EGU23-8669
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-8669
EGU General Assembly 2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Mars Express: Toward a 20-year scientific and technical success story

Patrick Martin1, Colin Wilson2, James Godfrey3, Alejandro Cardesin Moinelo1, Rick Blake3, Andrew Johnstone3, Luke Lucas3, Simon Wood3, Sylvain Damiani3, Donald Merritt1, Julia Marin Yaseli de la Parra1, Mar Sierra1, Michel Breitfellner1, Emmanuel Grotheer1, David Heather2, Carlos Muniz Solaz1, Mars Express Science Ground Segment Team1, and Mars Express Flight Control Team3
Patrick Martin et al.
  • 1European Space Agency, European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Science Operations Department, Villanueva de la Canada (Madrid), Spain (patrick.martin@esa.int)
  • 2European Space Agency, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, The Netherlands
  • 3European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany

Mars Express, ESA's first flagship for Mars exploration, will reach the momentous milestones of 20 years in space and at Mars on 2 June and 25 December this year, respectively. Its scientific record is unprecedented for a mission which was initially planned for one Martian year. Since end 2003 Mars Express has gathered a wealth of data from the subsurface, surface, atmosphere, plasma environment and moons of the red planet in a quasi-uninterrupted and routine way. Furthermore, Mars Express is currently as scientifically active and productive as at any time through its lifetime in space, thanks to several additions and improvements recently made to its spacecraft and payload capabilities (e.g., MARSIS radar new subsurface and Phobos operative modes, radio frequency occultation measurements between Mars Express and ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter using an upgraded MELACOM communications system, plasma sounding by ASPERA during MARSIS measurements, occultation observations during egress). Mars Express is expected to maintain and even enhance its scientific return over the next few years, should the mission be extended. Technical feasibility of further mission extensions has been reviewed and confirmed. The mission is constrained by 3 lifetime-limiting elements which are the remaining gyro lifetime, remaining fuel and the battery lifetime. However, it has been demonstrated that none of those 3 constraints is likely to prevent Mars Express from continuing its routine operations until beyond 2030. Whether Mars Express is extended or not, nominal archiving is proceeding at pace and higher-level data sets being produced in collaboration with the PI teams to optimise the Mars Express archive legacy.

The mission and science operations teams, together with the mission scientists, are looking forward to several additional years of scientific productivity and discoveries. Successful joint science campaigns with the CNSA Tianwen/Zhurong orbiter and rover missions, UAE’s Hope orbiter mission, and especially the upcoming MMX mission to Phobos by JAXA should contribute to further augment Mars Express’ 20-year success story.

How to cite: Martin, P., Wilson, C., Godfrey, J., Cardesin Moinelo, A., Blake, R., Johnstone, A., Lucas, L., Wood, S., Damiani, S., Merritt, D., Marin Yaseli de la Parra, J., Sierra, M., Breitfellner, M., Grotheer, E., Heather, D., Muniz Solaz, C., Science Ground Segment Team, M. E., and Flight Control Team, M. E.: Mars Express: Toward a 20-year scientific and technical success story, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-8669, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-8669, 2023.