Mars Express, the European Space Agency‘s first spacecraft developed for a mission to the planet Mars, has completed its tests at Toulouse, France. After six months of extensive thermal environmental, mechanical and electric tests, the spacecraft with the Beagle 2 lander left for Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday onboard an Antonov 124 aircraft. It will be launched in early 2003 onboard a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket. European satellite manufacturer built Astrium Mars Express with the involvement of more than 20 companies.

In addition, ESA plans to present its SMART-1 lunar mission to the press on April 3. SMART-1 carries 10 experiments that will test technological innovations in the context of the first European scientific mission to the Moon.