Posted: Sat, Jan 17, 2004, 10:38 AM ET (1538 GMT)
ESA's Mars Express spacecraft is now in a "near-final" orbit around the Red Planet, the agency announced this week. The spacecraft's main engine fired for the last time on January 11, and controllers are now using smaller thrusters on the spacecraft to tweak its orbit. Those final maneuvers, scheduled to be completed by January 26, will put the spacecraft into a 7.6-hour orbit around the planet. All of the spacecraft's instruments have been turned on and are operating with the exception of its radar, which is not scheduled to begin work until April, when its boom is deployed. Mars Express has not made any effort to contact the Beagle 2 lander since January 12, part of a 10-day period of radio silence in the hopes of triggering a new communications mode on the lander. Beagle 2 project officials said that if a January 22 communications session fails to establish contact with the lander, they will likely declare the mission lost.

Related Links:

•  ESA press release
•  AFP article