ESA's Mars Express mission welcomes NASA's Curiosity rover

The European mission Mars Express developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) welcomed to the Red Planet the Curiosity rover sent by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ESA’s New Norcia tracking station also picked up signals directly from the NASA mission, 248 million km away at Mars.

The signals recorded by Mars Express during entry and descent of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MLS) rover were successfully received ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The signals received by Mars Express were immediately sent to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Mars Express picked up MSL signals about 10 minutes before it entered the atmosphere, travelling at 21,000 kilometres per hour, in a critical period for the success of the mission. Over the weeks following the arrival of Curiosity to Mars surface, Mars Express and the ESA's ESOC team will make several data relay overflights during the early stages of NASA's mission to Mars.

The European mission will ensure emergency support if requested by the NASA by relaying data from Curiosity to Earth. This represents a major step for the support provided by the European Space Agency in the development of NASA's mission to Mars, a support which is possible thanks to a close collaboration between both agencies.


Read more: Euroalert.net - ESA's Mars Express mission welcomes NASA's Curiosity rover - News about the European Union