On 29 and 30 June the ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, David Southwood, met NASA’s Associate Administrator for Science, Ed Weiler, in Plymouth, UK, to establish a way for a progressive programme for exploration of the Red Planet. The outcome of the bilateral meeting was an agreement to create a Mars Exploration Joint Initiative (MEJI) that will provide a framework for the two agencies to define and implement their scientific, programmatic and technological goals at Mars.
Discussions between ESA and NASA began in December 2008, driven by the ESA Ministerial Council’s recommendation to seek international cooperation to complete the ExoMars mission and to prepare further Mars robotic exploration missions. At the same time, NASA was reassessing its Mars Exploration Program portfolio after the launch of its Mars Science Laboratory was delayed from 2009 to 2011.
ESA and NASA establish a joint Mars exploration initiative
China to launch Mars probe atop Russian rocket
China’s first Mars probe is expected to be launched in the second half of this year on top of a Russian rocket, said Xinhua on Thursday, the latest milestone in the nation’s ambitious space program.
Yinghuo-1, or Firefly Light-1, weighs 115 kgs (253 lb) and passed an important test, Xinhua quoted Zhang Weiqiang, deputy secretary of the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology as saying.
The probe has an expected life of two years and would go into orbit around Mars in 2010 after a 10-month, 380-million-km journey, Zhang said.
The probe won’t land on Mars, but would only orbit and monitor the planet, he said.
NASA Awards $485M Mars Project Delayed by Conflict of Interest
NASA chose a University of Colorado proposal for a $485 million Mars mission on Monday after a nine-month delay caused by a conflict of interest in the selection process. The delay cost the space agency time, money and science.
The price of the probe increased by $10 million, its launch was postponed by two years, and the science-gathering mission will be cut in half to one year, an official said. NASA chose the University of Colorado’s proposal to study the Martian atmosphere from 20 other ideas to study Mars that were trimmed to just two before a conflict of interest was declared.
NASA has not disclosed what the conflict of interest was or who it involved, other than to say last year that it was not created by NASA but by one of the two groups. The space agency said last December that a “serious” conflict of interest in one of two proposals forced it to disband the board formed to pick the winner, and create a new panel to award the contract.
Mars robots begin test campaign
Engineers have unveiled the latest prototypes for a European rover that is due to land on Mars in 2015.
BBC News has had exclusive access to the test vehicles which are being put through their paces by space company UK Astrium at its HQ in Stevenage.
The British team on this European Space Agency (Esa) project has nicknamed the prototypes Bruno and Bradley.
The six-wheeled robots are claimed to be the most robust and manoeuvrable planetary rovers to be built.
According to Chris Draper, Astrium’s ExoMars rover vehicle industrial manager, they can go literally where no rover has gone before.
Success for Mars rover bag test
The project to design and build a European rover to send to Mars has passed an important milestone.
Engineers have demonstrated a vented, or dead-beat, airbag technology that could be used to cushion the vehicle’s landing on the Red Planet.
An effective entry, descent and landing system will be critical to the success of the ExoMars mission, as it is known.
The test’s success will be welcome news to European space delegations as they meet on Monday to review the project.
China and Russia join hands to explore Mars People's Daily Online
China recently announced its first international cooperative project of a joint Chinese-Russian exploration of Mars that has received attention from the governments of both countries. On March 26, 2007, with the Chinese and Russian heads of state as witnesses, the director of the China National Space Administration, Sun Laiyan, and the head of the Russian Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov, both signed the “Cooperative Agreement between the China National Space Administration and the Russian Space Agency on joint Chinese-Russian exploration of Mars.”
UK signs up to Euro Mars mission
The UK is to play a key role in Europe’s next mission to Mars. The government is to invest 108m euros (
ESA selects single rover concept for Mars mission CORDIS
The European Space Agency (ESA) has settled on a concept for its next mission to Mars. A single robot rover will be sent to the Red Planet, along with another, stationary, science package. A forthcoming meeting at ESA’s space and technology centre in the Netherlands will focus on what experiments the craft should take to Mars. The favoured concept – ExoMars – will lead a two-pronged mission.
Mars Master Plan: NASA Outlines New Approach
As the Spirit and Opportunity rovers continue their extended studies of Mars, NASA’s Mars program appears headed for change. The shift will be driven by a variety of factors including technical and budget issues, as well as a “rebalancing” of science objectives. NASA has been engaged since last year in what the agency calls a road-mapping effort to flesh out the details of a Mars master plan that would lead to an expeditionary crew landing on that remote world.
Europe
Future hunts for past or present life on Mars, hauling back to Earth samples of martian rock and soil, as well as setting the stage for a human voyage to the red planet is taking on a decidedly European look. European Space Agency (ESA) officials are taking steps to shift into high gear the building of the ExoMars robotic rover mission. The lander would be launched in 2011, likely onboard a Soyuz Fregat 2b booster from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.