Beagle 2 Tests Successfully Completed

On Friday 4 July, and Saturday 5 July 2003, engineers successfully carried out
overnight tests on the Mars Express lander, Beagle 2.

Ground controllers at the European Space Agency’s Operations Centre in
Darmstadt, Germany, contacted Mars Express at the weekend to carry out the tests
on the lander, which were rescheduled from two weeks ago. These functional tests
included uploading software and switching units on and off.

With these tests, the near-Earth phase of the Mars Express payload check-outs is
almost complete. All instruments, including the lander, have performed as
expected. Star calibration of some instruments is scheduled for mid-July, which
marks the first attempt to make scientific measurements. This will also be done
in the same way when nearer to Mars.

Rudi Schmidt, ESA Mars Express Project Manager, said: “This check-out was a
marvellous example of complete cooperation between ESA’s Mars Express and the
Beagle lander teams Another major milestone has been achieved successfully. What
a fantastic feeling!”

For further information please contact:

Rudolf Schmidt, ESA Mars Express Project Manager
ESA-ESTEC
Tel: +31 (0)71 565 3603
E-mail: rudolf.schmidt@esa.int