Satnews Daily
December 30th, 2009

ESA — Mars Missions


ESA NASA ExoMars Program graphic ESA's Council has given the go-ahead to proceed with the implementation of the ExoMars Program. This decision paves the way for two Mars exploration missions in cooperation with NASA in 2016 and 2018.

The ExoMars Program aims to investigate the martian environment, particularly astrobiological issues and to develop and demonstrate new technologies for planetary exploration with the long-term view of a future Mars sample return mission in the 2020s. Two missions are foreseen within the ExoMars Programme: one consisting of an Orbiter plus an Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator (to be launched in 2016) and the other consisting of two rovers (to be launched in 2018).

ESA's Council of Ministers approved the subscription of 850 million euro to the ExoMars program at a meeting held on December 16th and 17th at ESA Headquarters in Paris, France. Thirteen of ESA's 18 Member States are participating in the ExoMars Program: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, plus Canada.