Another Mars Mission Slips To The Right

Europe’s Mars rover slips to 2018, BBC
“The ExoMars vehicle is intended to search the Red Planet for signs of past or present life. The delay is the third for the mission originally planned to launch in 2011. While the switch will disappoint many people, officials say the change will open up a greatly expanded programme of exploration at the Red Planet. The European Space Agency (Esa) will now join forces at Mars with the US space agency (Nasa). The two organisations believe they can achieve far more by combining their expertise and budgets.”
Keith’s note: Indeed, think of the size of the rover cost overruns ESA can achieve now that they will be working together with NASA!