Come December 2003 - January 2004, an armada o fivenew invaders from Earth should arrive on theshores of the Red Planet -- the Japanese ISAS Nozomi orbiter,the European Space Agency' Mars Expressorbiter carrying th Beagle 2lander, and NASA's own tw Mars Exploration Rovers.While Nozomi began its interplanetaryvoyage in 1998,the other spacecraft are scheduled for launch windowsbeginning this June.Clearly, earthdwellers remain intensely curious about Mars andthe tantalizing possibility o past or present martian life,with these robotic missions focussing on investigating the planet'satmosphere and th searchfor water This mosaicof over 100 Viking 1 orbiter image of Marswas recorded in 1980 and isprojected to show the perspective seen from an approaching spacecraftat a distance of 2,000 kilometers Exceptional views of Mars will be possiblefrom earthbound telescopes in August and September.
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