Fund crunch will no longer hamper the European Space Agency's Mars program. The same holds true on the skepticism that had seeped in after the crash of the module Schiaparelli from the first phase and battered faith in the ESA project's future.
This follows the ministerial meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland on Dec. 1, where space ministers of 22 member countries along with Slovenia and Canada pledged to contribute the remaining €436 million ($465 million) to take the project forward.
"The Agency is encouraged to strive to reap the benefits expected from the significant investments made through the ExoMars program, including those earmarked for the successful completion of the second ExoMars mission," European officials said in a resolution.
Filling Up The Financial Shortfall
The ExoMars mission as a whole has been facing budget overruns. At the meeting, ministers reasserted their faith in the mission and agreed to fill up the financial shortfall. Among the top contributors are Italy and the UK with €171 million ($182 million) and €82 million ($87 million) respectively.
This will help ESA move ahead to put a UK-assembled robotic rover on the surface of Mars in 2021.
The first part of the program had placed a satellite for probing trace gases in the atmosphere, presumably from organisms somewhere on the planet. While ESA and Russian partner Roscosmos were able to complete the first phase of the mission to the Red Planet, the space agencies were unable to successfully land the Schiaparelli technology demonstration landing module.
Part two of the ExoMars mission will be a combo of rover and surface platform. Already the Trace Gas Orbiter from the first phase is locked in orbit and acting as a relay module for the 2020 mission.
The rover mission will be the soul of the second phase of ExoMars. It will make subsurface drilling explorations on Mars' dusty surface to detect traces of life.
ESA Demand
The ESA sought funding amounting to €11 billion ($12 billion) for meeting various activities, ranging from rocket development and Earth observation to satellite navigation.
Ministers from ESA's 22 member states plus Slovenia and Canada allocated €10.3 billion (US$10.9 billion) for space activities based on the "vision of a United Space in Europe in the era of Space 4.0."
"This is a big amount of money that really allows us to go forward," said Jan Woerner, the director general of ESA.
Support for ISS
At the summit, ministers in charge of space matters declared support for Woerner's vision for Europe in space and the development of ESA.
The meeting also decided to extend the European participation in the International Space Station until 2024, bringing ESA at par with the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada. This was welcomed by NASA.
"I'm excited all the International Space Station partners have now joined us in committing to the operation of this invaluable resource through at least 2024," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said.
