The European Space Agency (ESA) launched a technical investigation into problems with the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer aboard Mars Express, a spacecraft that provides information on the global composition and movement of the Mars atmosphere. Problems with the spectrometer developed a few months ago.

ESA’s Mars Express team is setting up an investigations board involving experts from the Mission Science Working Team, ESA, industry and the Italian Space Agency. The instrument has performed without any problems for almost two years. Mars Express was launched in June 2003.