NASA is aiming for extensive international co-operation on its revamped Mars exploration programme. Six major missions are to be included, at a cost to the agency of up to $450 million a year.
NASA is particularly keen to work with France and Italy on the Mars programme, details of which were released late last month (Flight International, 31 October-6 November). An agreement was signed between France and the USA on 26 October in Paris, which will allow France to develop a validation mission for a Mars sample return flight.
The new Mars programme incorporates lessons learned from previous mission successes and failures, including last year's Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander failures. The new programme has a more conservative goal of launching a Mars sample return mission in 2014, nine years later than originally planned.
In addition to the previously-announced 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter and the 2003 twin Mars Exploration Athena Rovers, the programme includes a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005 to observe the planet's surface, and a Mobile Science Laboratory rover, carrying 270kg (590lb) of instruments. A "new line of Mars Scout missions" will complement the major missions. Launched from 2007, these may include mini-landers and airborne vehicles.
Missions in the second decade will include a first sample return mission in 2014 and a second in 2016, with options to increase the rate of missions
Source: Flight International
