France, Britain Reluctant To Recommit To Revised but 'Risky' ExoMars Mission

摘要

Europe's plan to join the United States in a two-launch Mars exploration effort in 2016 and 2018 is being thrown into question by concerns raised by France and Britain that the mission has assumed too many risks, European government and industry officials said. A meeting European Space Agency (ESA) governments set for June 29-30, as well as a possible side conference before that among the four nations paying the biggest share of what Europe calls its ExoMars mission — Italy, Britain, France and Germany — will be the next indication of whether ExoMars is going through a temporary crisis or something more serious.