Beagle 2 ‘cruise check-out’ tests

The instruments on board ESA’s mission to Mars, Mars Express, are in the process of being tested to verify that they have survived the launch successfully and will work properly. One of these tests on the Mars Express lander, Beagle 2, has been postponed to the first week of July. This will give engineers extra time to investigate a temporary anomaly that occurred in a memory unit, the so-called ‘Solid State Mass Memory’ (SSMM). The SSMM stores data from the instruments before sending them to Earth.

More information at:

http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMVYIS1VED_0.html