Europe's Mars Express goes into orbit

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 26, 2003

Europe's Mars Express goes into orbit

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Europe's Mars Express was launched into orbit around Mars early Thursday, as controllers in Darmstadt,Germany waited anxiously for the signal confirming the safe touchdown of the Beagle 2 probe on the Mars.

According to reports from Darmstadt, controllers had detected asignal from a small antenna aboard Mars Express as it emerged frombehind Mars on schedule at 5:11 a.m. (0411 GMT) on Dec. 25. However, they cautioned that the signal lacked date that would confirm the spacecraft was still working.

Mars Express reappeared following a maneuver in which it fired its engine to slow it enough for Mars' gravity to pull it into orbit, which is crucial for the work of the Beagle 2 probe becausethe orbitor will serve as a messager between Earth and the probe.

The Beagle 2 probe was unleashed from the Mars Express six daysago. Working in tandem, the lander and orbitor are designed to search for signs of life, whether past or present, on the Red Planet.

The lander was scheduled to enter the upper Martian atmosphere at 0245 GMT, but no confirmation of the touchdown was expected until NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has a chance to capture its signal.

Beagle, named for the ship that carried British naturalist Charles Darwin on his scientific discovery in the 1830s, is equipped with a robotic arm to sample surface rock and soil.

Getting a working spacecraft to Mars has been very difficult. Of 34 unmanned American, Soviet and Russian missions to Mars sincethe 1960s, two-thirds have ended in failure.

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