Overview:

Mars Express, so called because of the rapid and streamlined development time, represents ESA's first visit to another planet in the Solar System. The spacecraft borrows technology from the failed Mars 96 mission and from ESA's Rosetta mission that is currently en route to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The mission helps to answer fundamental questions about the geology, atmosphere, surface environment, history of water and potential for life on Mars.

Objectives:

• Global high-resolution photogeology (including topography, morphology, paleoclimatology, etc.) at 10m resolution

• Super-resolution photogeology of selected areas of the planet (2m/pixel)

• Global high spatial resolution mineralogical mapping of the Martian surface at kilometer scale down to several 100 m resolution

• Global atmospheric circulation characterization, and high-resolution mapping of the atmospheric composition

• Subsurface structure characterization at kilometer scale down to the permafrost

• Surface-atmosphere interaction; interaction of the atmosphere with the interplanetary medium

• Structure of the interior, atmosphere and environment via radio science measurements

• Surface geochemistry and exobiology

Experiments:

• HRSC High Resolution Stereo Camera

• OMEGA Visible and Infrared Mineralogical Mapping Spectrometer

• MARSIS Sub-surface Sounding Radar Altimeter

• PFS Planetary Fourier Spectrometer

• SPICAM Ultraviolett and Infrared Atmospheric Spectrometer

• ASPERA Energetic Neutral Atoms Analyzer

• MaRS Mars Radio Science Experiment