Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Russians, ESA Sign Mars Deals?

The European Space Agency (ESA) on Wednesday signed a deal with its Russian counterpart Roscosmos to cooperate on two Mars exploration projects, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

[...]

Under the deal, the ESA will use Russia's Proton rocket as part of its Exomars project to send a robotic rover to the Mars surface and buy Russian parts for the rover's power supply system.

The deal will also see Russia's Phobos-Grunt project -- to send a probe to Mars' Phobos moon in October 2009 -- use the ESA's terrestrial communication facilities during its mission.


Interesting. Wasn't Exomars supposed to have a US launch? Or am I mixing things up?

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