Mars Express orbit design

This paper gives a survey of the orbit design, mission analysis aspects for Mars Express, the ESA mission to Mars. The emphasis is on those features which are unconventional. These are: the launch window with only 9 flight programs on the Fregat launcher upper stage for 30 launch days, and the re-targeting and Planetary protection strategy during the cruise; the delivery of the Beagle 2 lander to its entry corridor and the spacecraft re-targeting after lander separation; the capture strategy which reaches an orbit around Mars also in the case of a main engine failure; a plane turn manoeuvre during the injection sequence, and the selection of a nearly resonant eccentric orbit, using the J(2) effect of Mars to create global coverage from low altitudes at balanced sun illumination conditions for optical and radar payload, and to provide regular communications relay contacts to the lander. (C) 2003 International Astronautical Federation. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.