The Aurora programme currently consists of three elements:
Mars from ESA's
Rosetta spacecraft
Image: ESA
- robotic science missions to Mars (the first of which is ExoMars) with the aim of a Mars sample return mission and eventually a human mission
- a core programme (2005-2010) which focuses on generic technology development for future missions
- a specific Mars robotic exploration programme preparing and enabling robotic technology for a Mars Sample Return mission
The ExoMars mission was reconfigured in 2009 as the start of a long-term collaborative programme between ESA and NASA to explore Mars with funding now split between two missions. The first proposed mission is an orbiter with a science payload, and a short-lived lander, to be launched in 2016. The second mission, to be launched in 2018, will consist of two rovers, the European ExoMars rover and a NASA rover. This reconfigured ExoMars programme was formally presented to ESA Council at its December 2009 meeting and the joint two-mission proposal agreed.
Page last updated: 21 January 2010
by Lindsay Dannatt
