On 29th and 30th 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 last December, 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.
This provided ESA and NASA with an opportunity to increase
cooperation and expand collective capabilities. To investigate the
options in depth, a joint ESA/NASA engineering working group was
established, along with a joint executive board to steer the efforts and
develop final recommendations on how to proceed.
At the bilateral meeting in Plymouth, the executive board recommended
NASA and ESA establish MEJI spanning launch opportunities in 2016, 2018
and 2020, with landers and orbiters conducting astrobiological,
geological, geophysical and other high-priority investigations, and
leading to the return of samples from Mars in the 2020s. The Director
and Associate Administrator agreed, in principle, to establish the
Initiative and continue studies to determine the most viable joint
mission architectures.
ESA and NASA also agreed to establish a joint architecture review
team to assist the agencies in planning the mission portfolio. As plans
develop, they will be reviewed by ESA member states for approval and by
the US National Academy of Sciences. This unique collaboration of
missions and technologies will pave the way for exciting discoveries at
Mars.
No comments:
Post a Comment