The Mars Exploration Plans of ESA: The ExoMars Mission and the Preparatory Activities for an International Mars Sample Return Mission

摘要

The European Space Agency (ESA) has been actively performing space exploration for many years and is currently conducting several scientific missions in the solar system. In 2005 the Huygem probe, part of a joint ESA-ASI-NASA mission, landed on Titan. At present, Smart-1 is performing its mission around the moon and Mars Express is continuing to send impressive data from Mars. Venus Express will soon arrive at our nearest planetary neighbour and Rosetta is en route to a comet encounter. Moreover, ESA is also planning to explore Mercury with the BepiColombo mission, in cooperation with Japan.