Europe denies Russian report that Mars mission has hit big problems

Posted by tourdemars to Mars Express at June 24, 2003 12:00 PM

The European Space Agency (ESA) denied Tuesday a report by its Russian counterpart that its just-launched mission to Mars had been hit by a major communications problem. The Russian agency, Rosaviakosmos, said Monday that communications were down between the onboard computer of the Mars Express orbiter, en route for the Red Planet, and the Beagle-2, a British-built lander which it carries.