Early on 6 August, Mars Express will receive crucial signals from NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission as it delivers the car-sized Curiosity rover onto the Red Planet. The ESA spacecraft will begin tracking the NASA mission 45 minutes before it enters the martian atmosphere; an ESA ground station will also record vital signals.

The highlight of ESA’s support for NASA’s Curiosity landing happens at 06:29 on Monday, 6 August, when the Mars Express Lander Communication (MELACOM) system is switched on. Recording of the radio signals transmitted by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is planned to begin at 07:09 and end at 07:37 (all times shown as ground event time in CEST).

ESA’s ground tracking station in New Norcia, Australia, will also listen and record signals from the NASA mission at the same time.

Notes:
CEST = UTC + 2 hours
Earth time = Mars time + 13min:48sec
MEX: Mars Express
MSL: Mars Science Laboratory
NNO: ESA New Norcia station
AOS: Acquisition of signal
S/C: Spacecraft
All times subject to change

Event Earth CEST Earth UTC S/C UTC Notes
DSS-15 (G/S) AOS 4:03:00 2:03:00
NNO AOS MEX 4:03:00 2:03:00
NNO AOS MSL 4:05:00 2:05:00
DSS-15 LOS MEX 6:05:00 4:05:00
NNO LOS MEX 6:05:00 4:05:00
NNO start recording MSL signals 6:25:00 4:25:00
MEX starts slew to point at MSL 6:06:30 4:06:30 3:52:42
MEX MELACOM reciever ON 6:28:48 4:28:48 4:15:00
MEX ends slew to point at MSL 6:36:38 4:36:38 4:22:50 Now pointing at MSL
MEX starts recording MSL signals 7:08:48 5:08:48 4:55:00
MSL Cruise Stage separation 7:14:34 5:14:34 5:00:46 MSL starts transmitting
MRO UHF TM capture starts 7:21:34 5:21:34 5:07:46
MSL Atmosphere entry 7:24:34 5:24:34 5:10:46
MSL Start plasma attenuation 7:26:13 5:26:13 5:12:25
ODY UHF bent pipe relay start 7:26:34 5:26:34 5:12:46
MSL End plasma attenuation 7:27:13 5:27:13 5:13:25
MSL Parachute deploys 7:28:46 5:28:46 5:14:58
MSL Heat shield separation 7:29:07 5:29:07 5:15:19
MSL Backshell separation 7:30:40 5:30:40 5:16:52
MSL Curiosity separation 7:31:17 5:31:17 5:17:29
Curiosity touchdown 7:31:37 5:31:37 5:17:49 Planned
MEX MELACOM reciever OFF 7:36:48 5:36:48 5:23:00
ODY UHF bent pipe relay end 7:37:37 5:37:37 5:23:49
MEX starts slew to point at Earth 7:38:58 5:38:58 5:25:10
NNO stop recording MSL signals 7:40:00 5:40:00
MEX ends slew to point at Earth 8:09:46 6:09:46 5:55:58 Now pointing at Earth
MEX transmitter ON 8:09:48 6:09:48 5:56:00
MEX start sending TM 8:15:00 6:15:00 6:01:12
MEX start recording download 8:15:31 6:15:31 6:01:43
MEX stop recording download 8:40:31 6:40:31 6:26:43
ESOC team passes data to NASA 8:42:00 6:42:00