European scientists are working on a new project to make up for the failure of their unmanned mission to Mars 16 months ago. When the Russian probe Mars 96 failed to leave the earth's gravity and crashed into the Pacific Ocean in November 1996, some $180 million worth of experiments were lost. The bulk of the experiments were prepared by member states of the European Space Agency (ESA), which is now inviting tenders to participate in a new project, Mars Express.