Extra Cash For Mars Mission

摘要

A funding boost for the European Space Agency has put its Mars rover on track for launch in 2016.rnEuropean ministers agreed on 26 November to give ESA €10 billion over the next three to five years, an increase of €1 billion on its previous allocation. As well as the ExoMars mission to look for signs of Martian life, the extra cash will help fund a new generation of meteorological and Earth monitoring satellites, and a heavy-lifting upgrade of the Ariane launcher. ESA is also considering adapting its supply ship for the International Space Station to carry astronauts.rnThe funding should also help boost the high-tech economy in Europe in the face of a global recession. "In a period of economic crisis, this is the time to invest in the future," says ESA's director general Jean-Jacques Dordain.