Cnes Officials Suggest Scaled-back Mars Mission

摘要

Europe's planned lander and rover mission to Mars in 2016 should be substantially cut back to fit within its likely budget constraints, and the downsizing should occur as soon as possible, officials from the French space agency, CNES, said Jan. 28. They said that while the cuts will be painful for everyone, it is better to redesign the mission now rather than risk cost overruns and possible program delays later on. Addressing a press briefing here, CNES's deputy director for science, Richard Bon-neville, said French sup-port of the mission, called ExoMars, remains solid. But he said as cur-rently designed, ExoMars will not fit into the budget likely to be approved by European Space Agency (ESA) gov-ernments when they meet late this year to review a fresh program proposal.