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On June 2, just before midnight, the spacecraft Mars Express will blast off for Mars, where it is expected to land around Christmas of this year. The journey of hundreds of thousands of kilometers will take nearly seven months to complete and represents the first large scale project undertaken by the European Space Agency (ESA).

The spacecraft, Mars Express, is due to be launched from Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz-Fregat rocket includes a probe, called the Beagle 2, which will separate from the ship just one week before entering the orbit of Mars. The satellite will then continually orbit the Red Planet and through the use of radar, will begin its mission of searching for water on the planet's surface. As this effort is underway, the probe will collect data about mineral composition, the weather and the effect of winds upon the atmosphere, but most of all, it will be looking for proof of former life on the planet.

The mission's primary objective is none other than to determine for once and for all whether life has ever existed on any other planet than Earth. An ambitious claim, and one difficult to prove, despite the evidence that at one time there was an abundance of water on Mars.

Whatever the outcome, Mars Express will not be alone in space. Also during the month of June the North American Space Agency (NASA) will be sending two powerful spaceships to Mars that are projected to land at the beginning of January. Additionally, the Japanese ship Nozomi will also be arriving, after a problem-riddled journey of nearly 5 years. Surely with all these missions taking place, new knowledge will be forthcoming about our neighboring planet...