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European space officials show off first pictures of Mars from test

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 December 2003, 06:00 CST

DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) -- European space officials on Wednesday showed off the first pictures of Mars sent back by the Mars Express spacecraft as it heads for a Christmas rendezvous with the red planet.

The pictures, taken from 5.4 million kilometers (3.36 million miles)away, aren't top quality but prove that the spacecraft's German-made HRSC high-resolution camera is in working order before it begins orbiting Mars and snapping pictures close up.

The camera test, performed on Monday, is one of a series of checks and rehearsals before a series of intricate maneuvers beginning Dec. 19, when Mars Express will turn loose its British-built Beagle 2 lander toward the Martian surface on a mission to probe for signs of extraterrestrial life.

Mars Express will then steer away from a collision with the planet and early on Dec. 25 will fire its main engine for about 30 minutes to put it into Martian orbit.

``We will have to carry out some very precise navigational operations,'' Gaele Winters, the European Space Agency's director for technical operations and support, said at the agency's mission control center in Darmstadt in western Germany. ``You will understand there is a certain level of tension in the center.''

The spacecraft, launched June 2 atop a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Kazakstan, has weathered solar eruptions that last month bombarded it with high-energy particles, temporarily disrupting its computers. An unexpected drop in electrical power to about 70 percent of what was expected is also not expected to derail the mission, officials said.

Flight operations director Michael McKay said controllers have been busy rehearsing in computer simulations how to deal with potential troubles, including failure of the main engine to be used to slow the craft into orbit. The controllers solved the problem by using its smaller maneuvering rockets in the simulation.

``We have flown every possible contingency, and some impossible ones,'' McKay said.

Of the 34 unmanned American, Soviet and Russian missions to Mars since 1960, two thirds have ended in failure.

The 65-kilogram (143-pound) Beagle 2 will use a robotic arm to gather and sample rocks for evidence of organic matter and water, while Mars Express orbits overhead. During its working life -- currently planned for one Martian year, or 687 Earth days -- it's hoped Mars Express will send back detailed overhead pictures of the surface and use a powerful radar to scan for underground water.

Scientists think Mars once had water and appropriate conditions for life but lost it billions of years ago, possible after being hit by asteroids. It is believed water might still exist as underground ice.

(dm-cb)

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