ESA’s ExoMars mission could mark a great leap forward for planetary science. But, as Cristina Gallardo reports, it needs another €200 million to get off the ground.
Mars is still unexplored territory for Europe’s planetary scientists. The American rovers Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity have been exploring the Red Planet for a decade now, but the European Space Agency’s Beagle 2 lander, Europe’s only attempt to land on Mars, was lost on arrival in 2003.
At a crunch meeting in Luxembourg next month, ministers representing ESA member states will see if they can scrape together enough money for ExoMars, a European-led effort to retrieve and analyse rock and atmospheric gases on Mars.
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