SPACE.com -- Ferrari Red Paint Set for Trip to Red Planet

A life size model of the European Mars Express spacecraft due to be launched on its journey to the Red Planet in May-June 2003 accompanied by a sample of Ferrari red paint. The model of the spacecraft is seen here in the anechoic chamber at INTESPACE in Toulouse, alongside the F2002, this year's Ferrari F1 World Champion car together with Ferrari's new 575M Maranello. The sample of Ferrari paint is in the foreground.

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	Ferrari Red Paint Set for Trip to Red Planet By Peter B. de Selding Space News Staff Writer posted: 07:00 am ET 19 September 2002

TOULOUSE, France Hoping to raise its public profile, the European

TOULOUSE, France Hoping to raise its public profile, the European Space Agency (ESA) is teaming with Italian race-car maker Ferrari to fly a few drops of Ferrari-red paint aboard ESAs Mars orbiter, scheduled for launch next summer on a mission to survey the surface and atmosphere of the red planet.

A few drops of Ferraris well-known racing color have been placed into a 2-centimeter-diameter glass globe and affixed to the orbiter, which is undergoing final testing here at a facility owned by Intespace.

ESA hopes that the operation, which Ferrari is not paying for, will permit ESA to find a broader audience in Europe, where much to ESA managers chagrin, NASA remains much better recognized among ordinary citizens.

ESA Director-General Antonio Rodota said a poll in 1998 showed that just 10 percent of European citizens knew of ESAs existence, while 54 percent were able to identify NASA. "The conclusion we drew is that possibly we were doing something wrong as far as communication of our activity," Rodota told a press briefing here Sept. 18. He said the agency approached Ferrari with the idea of an association with Mars Express.

Fulvio Ferretti, Ferraris purchasing manager, said Ferrari accepted the proposal on a noncommercial basis, meaning that neither party is paying anything besides the costs, borne by ESA, of testing the paint sample to be sure it will remain stable in the extreme heat and cold of space.

It remains unclear whether Ferrari will use the Mars Express connection in a future advertising campaign. The company is not obliged to do so.

One ESA official said the agency had asked Ferrari whether it would be possible to put ESAs logo on the automakers Formula One vehicles. "They asked us if we had any idea of what people are willing to pay for that, and we dropped the idea," the official said.