ESA - International Crew patch.
Dec. 3, 2016
The European Space Agency will spend € 400 million on its plan to explore Mars
Europe will allocate a further € 1.4 billion to the continued operation of the ISS and to the ExoMars 2020 mission, its plan to explore the red planet, announced Friday in Lucerne ( Switzerland) the European Space Agency (ESA).
Image above: ISS photographed by an STS-130 crew member. Image Credits: NASA/STS-130.
For these two emblematic projects, the International Space Station (ISS) and the exploration of Mars, "this makes a budget of about 1.444 billion" euros, said, at a press conference broadcast online Jan Woerner, Director General of the European Space Agency.
ESA will allocate more than 400 million euros to ExoMars 2020 and will spend about 1 billion to extend the operation of the ISS.
Conference in Lucerne
This announcement was made at the end of the ESA Ministerial Conference, which brought together on Thursday and Friday the heads of space affairs of the 22 Member States.
Image above: ESA Council meeting at Ministerial Level, Lucerne, on 1 December 2016. Image Credits: ESA/Stephane Corvaja.
The ExoMars 2020 mission involves sending a mobile robot to the red planet, with the burden of drilling the Martian soil in search of traces of past life.
It was preceded by the ExoMars 2016 mission, which resulted in the successful launch of the TGO probe on 19 October, as well as the crash caused by a navigation software problem of the Schiaparelli test lander On the surface of Mars.
Extended use
The ministers also decided Friday to continue the operation of the international space station, a laboratory the size of a soccer field where the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet has just taken his quarters for the next six months.
Image above: Flying over Chile & Argentina, latitude: 67.55°/longitude: 60.35°, altitude: 418,66 Km/Speed: 27'564 Km/h. Image captured (by me) with Earth Cam from ISS - International Space Station (via ISS HD Live application) on December 3, 2016 at 15:28 (GMT + 1). Image Credits: ISS/Earth Cam/Roland Berga.
Europe thus joins the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada, which had already decided to extend the use of the station until 2024.
"Europe is giving itself the means to be really at the forefront (...) for the years that come when new competitors emerge and uncertainties," commented AFP Thierry Mandon, French State in charge of Higher Education and Research.
Related links:
European Ministers ready ESA for a united space in Europe in the era of space 4.0
http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Ministerial_Council_2016/European_ministers_ready_ESA_for_a_United_Space_in_Europe_in_the_era_of_Space_4.0
Ministerial Council 2016 in images: http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/content/search?SearchText=cm16&img=1&SearchButton=Go
Media briefing replay: http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2016/12/Ministerial_Council_media_briefing
Resolutions and main decisions: http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/corporate/For_Public_Release_CM-16_Resolutions_and_Decisions.pdf
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: AFP/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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