TES NEWS Volume 3, Number 4, November - December 1994
MARS 1998 LAUNCH OPPORTUNITIES
After 1996, the next launch "window" for trips from Earth to Mars
opens in 1998. Russia is looking at sending a rover to the Red Planet
in 1998. Japan has announced plans for Planet B, which will
launch in August 1998 to study the upper atmosphere of Mars starting
in October 1999. The U.S. is moving ahead with a request for proposals
to send a lander and orbiter to Mars in 1998 under the Mars Surveyor
program. The orbiter would carry one or both the Gamma Ray Spectrometer
(GRS) or Pressure Modulator Infrared Radiometer (PMIRR) that were on
the lost Mars Observer. The GRS project is headed by a team
at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The U.S., Russia, France,
and other partners are also looking at combining their 1998 missions
into a scheme called "Mars Together." The spacecraft would reach Mars
in late 1999 and include a French-built balloon to float in the martian
atmosphere.
Back to Contents of TES News November - December 1994
Edited by: K. S. Edgett
Arizona Mars K-12 Education Program / edgett@elvis.mars.asu.edu