ESA - Industry

<!doctype html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, user-scalable=no, initial-scale=1.0, minimum-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/var/esa/cache/public/stylesheets/c35b41a32fb01cc5cc5a0efcc8ca483e_1685535780_all.css" /> <link href="/fontawesome/css/fontawesome.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="/fontawesome/css/brands.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="/fontawesome/css/solid.css" rel="stylesheet"> <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-2.2.4.min.js" integrity="sha256-BbhdlvQf/xTY9gja0Dq3HiwQF8LaCRTXxZKRutelT44=" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/var/esa/cache/public/javascript/ec3756e8a47adc0f64e3c43418bca85a_1729093166.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <meta property="og:title" content="Industry"> <title>ESA - Industry</title> <meta name="description" content="Mars Express is a pioneer – and not just because it is Europe's first mission to the Red Planet. It is also pioneering more economic ways of building space science missions at ESA. These new working methods have already proved effective and will be applied to future science missions in the agency’s long-term scientific programme."> <meta property="og:description" content="Mars Express is a pioneer – and not just because it is Europe's first mission to the Red Planet. It is also pioneering more economic ways of building space science missions at ESA. These new working methods have already proved effective and will be applied to future science missions in the agency’s long-term scientific programme."> <meta name="keywords" content="mars express page24"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2003/04/map_showing_companies_building_the_mars_express_orbiter/9660934-3-eng-GB/Map_showing_companies_building_the_Mars_Express_Orbiter_pillars.jpg"> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@esa"> <script> var _paq = window._paq = window._paq || []; _paq.push(["setDomains", ["*.www.esa.int","*.www.esa.int"]]); _paq.push(["enableCrossDomainLinking"]); _paq.push(['trackPageView']); _paq.push(['enableLinkTracking']); (function() { var u="https://www-analytics.esa.int/"; _paq.push(['setTrackerUrl', u+'matomo.php']); _paq.push(['setSiteId', '46']); var d=document, g=d.createElement('script'), s=d.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; g.type='text/javascript'; g.async=true; g.src=u+'matomo.js'; s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s);})(); </script> </head> <body> <div class="wrapper popmod"> <div id="cookie_loc"></div> <section id="esa-header" class="esa-header exploring-discovering"> <div class="esa-header__left"> <button id="esa-menu" class="esa-header__toggle menu-toggle"> <img class="esa-header__icon" src="/extension/pillars/design/pillars/images/ESA_Menu.svg" alt="ESA menu toggle"> </button> <button id="esa-search" class="esa-header__toggle search-toggle"> <img class="esa-header__icon" src="/extension/pillars/design/pillars/images/ESA_Search.svg" alt="ESA search toggle"> </button> <img class="esa-header__title" src="/extension/pillars/design/pillars/images/ESA_Title.svg" alt="ESA title"> </div> <div class="esa-header__right"> <a class="esa-header__link" href="/"> <img class="esa-header__logo" src="/extension/pillars/design/pillars/images/ESA_Logo.svg" alt="ESA logo"> </a> </div> </section> <form class="quick-search" action="/esearch"> <input class="quick-search__field" type="text" name="q" placeholder="Search ESA"> <button class="quick-search__submit" type="submit"><i class="far fa-arrow-right"></i></button> </form> <script> try { iniframe = window.self !== window.top;} catch (e) { iniframe = true;}if (!iniframe) {theme = 'exploring-discovering'; $.get('/var/esa/storage/menu_overlay.html', for_overlay_menu);}</script> <section id="overlay-menu"></section> <script> $.post( '/ezjscore/call', "ezjscServer_function_arguments=esaux::viewsincr::147108", function(data) { $(document).ready(function() { $('#viewcount').text(data) }) }) </script> <section class="feature feature--article"> <a href="/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2003/04/Map_showing_companies_building_the_Mars_Express_Orbiter" class="popup"> <img class="image-bg stellar" src="/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2003/04/map_showing_companies_building_the_mars_express_orbiter/9660934-3-eng-GB/Map_showing_companies_building_the_Mars_Express_Orbiter_pillars.jpg" alt="Map showing companies building the Mars Express Orbiter" data-stellar-ratio="0.7" data-stellar-vertical-offset="60"> </a> </section> <article class="article exploring-discovering"> <header class="entry article__block"> <span class="pillar article__item">Science & Exploration</span> <h1 class="heading heading--main article__item">Industry</h1> <div class="meta article__item"> <span>14/04/2003</span> <span><span id="viewcount">3521</span><small> views</small></span> <span><span id="ezsr_total_6825795">2</span><small> likes</small></span> </div> </header> <div class="breadcrumbs article__block article__item"> <a class="breadcrumbs__entry" href="/">ESA</a> / <a class="breadcrumbs__entry" href="/Science_Exploration">Science & Exploration</a> / <a class="breadcrumbs__entry" href="/Science_Exploration/Space_Science">Space Science</a> / <a class="breadcrumbs__entry" href="/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express">Mars Express</a></div> <div class="abstract article__block article__item"> <p>Mars Express is a pioneer – and not just because it is Europe's first mission to the Red Planet. It is also pioneering more economic ways of building space science missions at ESA. These new working methods have already proved effective and will be applied to future science missions in the agency’s long-term scientific programme.</p> </div> <div class="article__block"> <h2 class="heading">A new approach</h2> <p>ESA is spending just 150 million Euros (1996 prices) on Mars Express, which is about one third of the cost of previous similar missions. This sum covers the development of the spacecraft, the launch and the operations. Orbiter instruments and the Beagle 2 lander are provided separately. The mission was also built unusually quickly to meet its narrow launch window in June 2003.</p><p>Savings are being made by re-using existing hardware, adopting new project management practices, shortening the time from original concept to launch, and procuring the most cost-effective launcher available.</p><p>"What we are doing with Mars Express will affect flexible missions at the Agency, which may, in future, be linked more closely to major missions. We are making savings, but we are not taking big risks," says Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager.</p><p>Mars Express is making maximum use of existing technology that is either 'off-the-shelf' or technology that has already been developed for Rosetta, ESA's mission to a comet. Items not – at least partly – in common with Rosetta constitute only about 35% of the spacecraft.</p><p>ESA is delegating tasks to Astrium Toulouse, France, the spacecraft prime contractor, that previously would have been done by the project team at ESTEC. In particular, Astrium is managing the technical interfaces between the spacecraft and science payload and between the spacecraft and launcher. This shift in responsibility is allowing industry to streamline procedures and ESA to reduce the size of its project team to half that of previous equivalent projects.</p><p>"This new scheme is best suited to Mars Express constraints. Industry is more responsible in terms of the interfaces, which means we can have a more efficient decision-making process," says Vincent Poinsignon, Mars Express Project Manager at Astrium.</p><p>The time from concept to awarding the design and development contract was cut from about five years to little more than one year. Astrium won the prime contract in March 1999 in competition with two other consortia. The design and development phase will take under four years, compared with up to six years for previous similar missions.</p><p>The Soyuz/Fregat launcher matches the needs of Mars Express well and is thus able to offer the best available price-to-performance ratio.</p> </div> <div class="article__block"> <h2 class="heading">Europe-wide involvement</h2> <p>"If you include the prime contractor, all the sub-contractors and the scientists and technicians working on instruments in research institutes, the Mars Express project is providing about 1000 jobs throughout Europe," estimates Schmidt.</p><p>During 2001, the peak year for development, about 80 of these jobs were at the prime contractor, Astrium, Toulouse. During 2002, as the workload shifted from design and development to system and payload integration and final testing, this number decreased to about 30 and the number working at Alenia (Turin, Italy), the sub-contractor in charge of the testing programme, increased from about 15 to 30.</p><p>There are many more industrial jobs at Astrium's sub-contractors, which include 24 companies in 15 European countries.</p><p>Beagle 2 was built by a consortium of university teams and industrial partners, mainly in the UK. Astrium, Stevenage, UK was the prime contractor and Martin-Baker Aircraft managed the entry, descent and landing system. Approximately 50 academic, scientific or industrial establishments have been or are involved in the project.</p><p>ESA has also invested a substantial amount of funds in the Beagle 2 Consortium.</p> </div> <div class="share button-group article__block article__item"> <button id="ezsr_6825795_30_5" class="btn ezsr-star-rating-enabled" title="Like">Like</button> <p id="ezsr_just_rated_6825795" class="ezsr-just-rated hide">Thank you for liking</p> <p id="ezsr_has_rated_6825795" class="ezsr-has-rated hide">You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!</p> <div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_default_style"> <a class="a2a_button_x"></a> <a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a> <a class="a2a_button_copy_link"></a> <a class="a2a_dd" href=https://www.addtoany.com/share></a> </div> </div> </article> <section class="cards"> <h2 class="heading section-heading">Related Links</h2> <div class="grid clearfix"> <div class="grid-sizer"></div> <div class="grid-item highlight mission" data-date="1057669320"> <a class="card highlight mission exploring-discovering" href="/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express"> <figure class="thumbnail"> <div class="entry-info"> <span class="category">Mission</span> </div> <header class="entry"> <span class="pillar">Science & Exploration</span> <h3 class="heading">Mars Express</h3> </header> <img class="image-bg" src="/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2022/08/mars_express_mission_cover/24418046-1-eng-GB/Mars_Express_mission_cover_card_full.jpg" alt=""> <div class="cta"> <label>Open</label> <img class="arrow" src="/extension/pillars/design/pillars/images/arrow-white.svg" alt="Open"> </div> </figure> </a> </div> <div class="grid-item focuson" data-date="1661247480"> <a class="card focuson exploring-discovering" href="/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Mars_Express_overview2"> <figure class="thumbnail"> <div class="entry-info"> <span class="category">Focus on</span> </div> <div class="dimmer"></div> <img class="image-bg" src="/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2001/08/mars_express_in_orbit_around_mars_with_the_marsis_antenna_unfurled/9214866-5-eng-GB/Mars_Express_in_orbit_around_Mars_with_the_MARSIS_antenna_unfurled_card_medium.jpg" alt="Mars Express in orbit around Mars with the MARSIS antenna unfurled"> </figure> <header class="entry"> <span class="pillar">Science & Exploration</span> <h3 class="heading">Mars Express overview</h3> <p class="subheading"></p> </header> <div class="cta"> <label>Open</label> <img class="arrow" src="/extension/pillars/design/pillars/images/arrow.svg" alt="Open"> </div> </a> </div> <div class="grid-item focuson" data-date="1661267460"> <a class="card focuson exploring-discovering" href="/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Mars_Express_science_highlights"> <figure class="thumbnail"> <div class="entry-info"> <span class="category">Focus on</span> </div> <div class="dimmer"></div> <img class="image-bg" src="/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2018/04/mars_express/17447281-1-eng-GB/Mars_Express_card_medium.jpg" alt="Mars Express"> </figure> <header class="entry"> <span class="pillar">Science & Exploration</span> <h3 class="heading">Mars Express science highlights</h3> <p class="subheading"></p> </header> <div class="cta"> <label>Open</label> <img class="arrow" src="/extension/pillars/design/pillars/images/arrow.svg" alt="Open"> </div> </a> </div> </div> </section> <section id="footer"> <span class="footer__signature">European Space Agency</span> <div class="footer-nav"> <a href="/Services/Frequently_asked_questions">FAQ</a> <a href="/Services/Contacts">Contacts</a> <a href="/Services/Terms_and_conditions">Terms and conditions</a> <a href="/Services/Privacy_notice">Privacy notice</a> <a href="/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA">Careers at ESA</a> <a href="/Services/Email_updates">Subscribe </a> </div> <div class="social-media-links"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ESA" target="_blank"><i class="fab fa-youtube"></i></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/esa" target="_blank"><i class="fa-brands fa-x-twitter"></i></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanSpaceAgency" target="_blank"><i class="fab fa-facebook-f"></i></a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/europeanspaceagency/" target="_blank"><i class="fab fa-instagram"></i></a> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-space-agency/" target="_blank"><i class="fab fa-linkedin-in"></i></a> <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/EuropeanSpaceAgency/" target="_blank"><i class="fab fa-pinterest"></i></a> </div> </section> <section id="popup-modal"></section></div> <script> if (jQuery.cookie('cc_cookie_accept') == "cc_cookie_accept") { var s = document.createElement("script"); s.src = "https://static.addtoany.com/menu/page.js"; document.body.appendChild(s); }</script>  </body> </html>

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