The Science Programme Committee of the European Space Agency at its meeting on 9-10 November 1999 re-confirmed the payload of the Mars Express mission as approved in May 1998, with two important additions:
an Infrared channel, which was added to the SPICAM, UV and IR Atmospheric Spectrometer (PI: J.-L. Bertaux). In the light of the loss of NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter, the new SPICAM configuration allows the recovery of a good part of the science objectives previously addressed by the Mars Climate Orbiter.
a Super Resolution Channel (SRC), added to the HRSC, High-resolution Stereo Colour Imager (PI: G. Neukum). This new channel will allow the collection of images at unprecedented resolution, which will create a reference database for many years to come.
Another important element of the payload was also confirmed. Following the positive outcome of various reviews, both at UK and European level, the UK Mars lander Beagle-2 was considered sufficently mature, both technically and financially, to commence Phase C/D in January 2000. The confirmation by SPC, as requested by the UK SPC delegation, comes in advance of the previously planned date (February 2000). As a consequence, the development of the entire Mars Express payload, Orbiter and Lander, can proceed in full harmony.
