U.S. and Europe Blueprint Joint Mars Exploration Initiative (UPDATED)

Europe and the United States appear to have worked out a joint agreement enabling the two space nations to coalesce their respective Mars exploration programs.

According to a BBC News report today, a “letter of intent” has been okayed in Washington, D.C. – a joint communiqué between the European Space Agency and NASA that scopes out a 2016-2018 series of cooperative missions to the red planet.

According to the BBC, the Mars Joint Exploration Initiative calls for:

2016 - A European-led orbiter to study trace gases, including methane, in Mars’ atmosphere. This spacecraft would also plop a meteorological station on the surface of the red planet.

2018 – Rovers built by Europe and America would be sent to Mars.

2020 – A lander network is under consideration that would be placed on Mars, geared on the geophysics and environment of the martian environment.

One outcome of such a collaboration might be the building up of engineering and economic muscle to initiate a return sample program from Mars – an initiative that some now estimate as a $9 billion effort.

According to a statement provided to this Coalition reporter by Dwayne Brown, NASA spokesman:

Ongoing discussions with ESA on Mars exploration took another important step on November 5, with the signing of a Statement of Intent by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain.

"The statement of intent directs NASA's Science Mission Directorate and ESA's Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration to continue their technical analysis and pursue a more detailed definition of respective responsibilities for a joint initiative for the exploration of Mars."

By Leonard David