麻豆淫院

(麻豆淫院) -- This morning at 7:14 CEST, ESA鈥檚 Mars Express acquired signals from NASA鈥檚 Mars Science Laboratory as it delivered the car-sized Curiosity rover onto the Red planet鈥檚 surface. ESA鈥檚 New Norcia tracking station also picked up signals directly from the NASA mission, 248 million km away at Mars.

A key step was completed today in ESA's ongoing support to NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. Signals recorded by Mars Express during MSL鈥檚 entry and descent were successfully received at ESOC, ESA's European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany.

The open-loop recording of radio Doppler and signal spectrum transmitted by the NASA mission were stored on Mars Express and then downloaded to Earth starting at 08:15 CEST.

The recorded signals were transferred to NASA鈥檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, for analysis immediately upon receipt at ESOC. Similar direct-to-Earth recordings made at ESA鈥檚 New Norcia ground station in Australia were also sent to NASA.

Curiosity鈥檚 descent was also tracked by NASA鈥檚 own Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft; confirmation of touchdown was provided by Odyssey directly to NASA at 07:31 CEST.

"Congratulations to our NASA colleagues on a hugely successful landing,鈥� said Paolo Ferri, ESA鈥檚 Head of Solar and Planetary Mission Operations. 鈥淭he Mars Express team welcomes a new friend in the neighbourhood."

Mars Express picked up MSL signals about 10 minutes before it entered the atmosphere, travelling at 21 000 km/h, for its critical descent and landing phase.

鈥淲e tracked MSL for about 28 minutes then lost contact as expected just a few moments before Curiosity鈥檚 touchdown in Gale Crater,鈥� said Michel Denis, Mars Express Spacecraft Operations Manager.

鈥淣ASA now have this valuable data and everyone here is delighted to have helped support Curiosity鈥檚 arrival at Mars.鈥�

The signal recordings made by Mars Express and New Norcia station include information on MSL鈥檚 velocity and direction. They record the sequential critical events during descent, including parachute deployment, heat shield separation and rover separation.

They will prove valuable to scientists as they reconstruct MSL鈥檚 descent profile, helping to improve and refine models of the martian atmosphere and assess landing accuracy.

The signals recorded by Mars Express will be automatically downloaded two more times later today via New Norcia and ESA鈥檚 Cebreros station, in Spain, to ensure redundancy.

In the coming weeks, Mars Express and the operations team at ESOC will perform several data relay overflights during the first phases of Curiosity鈥檚 mission on the surface of Mars.

Then, ESA will offer a standby capability to provide dedicated support at short notice, if requested by NASA, by relaying data from Curiosity to Earth.

This could become necessary if Odyssey or MRO were to experience any technical problems, for example.

ESA鈥檚 tracking station network can support NASA missions, due in part to long-standing technical and operational cooperation between the two agencies.

鈥淪upporting Curiosity is an excellent example of inter-agency cooperation not only on Earth but also in deep space,鈥� said Manfred Warhaut, ESA鈥檚 Head of Mission Operations.

鈥淣o one likes going to Mars on their own; it takes cooperation and partnership to reduce risk and boost scientific return on investment.鈥�