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Mars Express is checking its attitude and distance from Mars.

Mars Express status report...

24 December 2003
At 12:00 CET today, the Mars Express orbiter was 169 000 kilometres from Mars and 156 167 000 kilometres from Earth.

The orbiter is now in the final configuration for Mars Orbit Insertion. No more commands are being sent to the spacecraft until after its capture by Mars.

Both the Mars Express orbiter and the Beagle 2 lander have a velocity relative to Mars of 2.8 kilometres per second, increasing under the influence of Martian gravity.

At 12:00 CET, the two spacecraft were 2300 kilometres apart, and diverging at a rate of 6.5 metres per second.

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