Althought 100 teimes as remote as the moon, Mars is the closest planet to Earth, fascinating mankind since ever. It is obvious that plans to explore Mars are old and still vivid. After early mission in the 70's, maps from the Mars surface give us a good idea about the Red Planet.
Recent US and Russian mission have mixed success and failures. While the Mars Parthfinder has sent spectacular pictures from Mars to Earth a few years ago, other mission like the Mars Polar Lander failed completely. The questions whether there is water beneath the surface of Mars, and whether life exists or has existed, are still unanswered.
With the US missions rescheduled after the recent failures, ESA's Mars Express mission is likely to be the next mission landing on the Red Planet. The project is advancing well to launch Mars Express in 2003, including the UK's 'Beagle2' landing vehicle. With its dozen insturments 'Beagle 2' will search for water or ice as well as for structures that might reveal life on our closes neighb

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