On June 29 and 30 Ed Weiler of the NASA Associate Administrator for Science and David Southwood of the European Space Agency (ESA) Director of Science and Robotic Exploration met in Plymouth, England, to launch a way for a progressive program for exploration of the Red Planet. The result of the bilateral meeting was an agreement to create a Mars Exploration Joint Initiative (MEJI) that will provide outline for the two agencies to define and implement their scientific, programmatic and technological goals at Mars.
Discussions between NASA and ESA had begun in December 2008, driven by the ESA Ministerial Council's recommendation to seek international cooperation to finish the Exo Mars mission and to start prepares the 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 belated from 2009 to 2011. This provided both NASA and ESA with an opportunity to increase cooperation and enlarge collective capabilities. To examine the options in depth, a joint NASA/ESA engineering working group was recognized, along with a joint executive board to guide the efforts and develop final recommendations on how to proceed.
At the bilateral meeting in Plymouth, the executive board suggested 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 most important to the return of samples from Mars in the 2020's. The director and associate administrator granted in principle, to establish the Initiative and continue studies to determine the most viable joint mission architectures.
NASA and ESA also approved 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 U.S. National Academy of Sciences to the unique collaboration of missions and technologies will pave the way for exciting discoveries at Mars.
Discussions between NASA and ESA had begun in December 2008, driven by the ESA Ministerial Council's recommendation to seek international cooperation to finish the Exo Mars mission and to start prepares the 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 belated from 2009 to 2011. This provided both NASA and ESA with an opportunity to increase cooperation and enlarge collective capabilities. To examine the options in depth, a joint NASA/ESA engineering working group was recognized, along with a joint executive board to guide the efforts and develop final recommendations on how to proceed.
At the bilateral meeting in Plymouth, the executive board suggested 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 most important to the return of samples from Mars in the 2020's. The director and associate administrator granted in principle, to establish the Initiative and continue studies to determine the most viable joint mission architectures.
NASA and ESA also approved 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 U.S. National Academy of Sciences to the unique collaboration of missions and technologies will pave the way for exciting discoveries at Mars.
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