Mars Express

Overview

Destination: Mars Orbit
Mission: Planetary Science

Mars Orbit 31/6 Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA). The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. Mars Express consists of two parts, the Mars Express Orbiter and Beagle 2, a lander designed to perform exobiology and geochemistry research. Although the lander failed to fully deploy after it landed on the Martian surface, the orbiter has been successfully performing scientific measurements since early 2004, namely, high-resolution imaging and mineralogical mapping of the surface, radar sounding of the subsurface structure down to the permafrost, precise determination of the atmospheric circulation and composition, and study of the interaction of the atmosphere with the interplanetary medium.

Soyuz-FG

Family:
Configuration: Fregat

The Soyuz FG is a medium-lift launch vehicle qualified for manned launches and used to deliver Soyuz Spacecraft to Orbit for Missions to the International Space Station.

Specifications
  • Stages
    3
  • Length
    4.95 m
  • Diameter
    2.68 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    305.0 T
  • Thrust
Family
  • Name
    Soyuz-FG
  • Family
  • Variant
    Fregat
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Soyuz-FG Fregat
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    7100.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Progress Rocket Space Center

Progress Rocket Space Center

(PRSC)

CEO: Dmitry Baranov Founded: 1996 Successes: 44 Failures: 1 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

Progress Rocket Space Centre, formerly known as TsSKB-Progress, is a space science and aerospace research company which is known for manufacturing launch vehicles and satellites. Most notably, Progress Rocket Space Centre is the manufacturer of Soyuz launch vehicles.

INFO WIKI

Related News

SpaceDaily

Martian butterfly crater reveals low angle impact and buried lava history

Paris, France (SPX) Dec 04, 2025 ESA's Mars Express orbiter has observed an impact crater in Mars's northern lowlands whose shape resembles a butterfly, created when an incoming space rock struck the surface at a shallow angle. The ma…

ESA

What a martian ice age left behind

Travelling up from Mars’s equator towards its north pole, we find Coloe Fossae: a set of intriguing scratches within a region marked by deep valleys, speckled craters, and signs of an ancient ice age.

ESA

ESA’s ExoMars and Mars Express observe comet 3I/ATLAS

Between 1 and 7 October, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Mars Express spacecraft turned their eyes towards interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, as it passed close to Mars.

ESA

Fly over Xanthe Terra with Mars Express

ESA’s Mars Express takes us on another mesmerising flight over curving channels carved by water, islands that have resisted erosion, and a maze of hilly terrain.

ESA

Mars Express updates software, extends lifetime until 2034

Mars Express mission operators at ESOC successfully sent a new software patch that would allow the spacecraft to operate in its third decade.

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

31/6


Falcon 9
Success
17 hours, 12 minutes ago
Starlink Group 6-82
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 16 hours ago
Starlink Group 15-12
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
1 day, 19 hours ago
Raise and Shine (RAISE-4)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

RAISE-4 (RApid Innovative payload demonstration Satellite-4) is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) satellite for on-orbit demonstrations of …


Kuaizhou 11
Success
2 days, 21 hours ago
DEAR-5
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

DEAR-5 is a commercial in-orbit payload and micro-gravity experiments hosting spacecraft developed by Chinese commercial company AZSPACE for various …


Long March 12
Success
3 days, 23 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 16
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group. …


Falcon 9
Success
4 days ago
Starlink Group 6-90
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 10 hours ago
Starlink Group 15-11
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Kinetica 1
Success
5 days, 18 hours ago
9 satellites
Launch Area 130 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Share ride of 9 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit: * Satellite 813 (United Arab Emirates) * Jilin-1 Gaofen 07B-01/07C-01/07D-01 * Dongpo-15 …


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 3 hours ago
NROL-77
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office.


Long March 3B/E
Success
6 days, 7 hours ago
TJSW-22
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.