ESA-NASA Mars Sample Return mission called off

” Europe, alone, cannot afford the Mars Return Mission. ESA is thus re-organising the mission goals and is looking at ways to plan future missions,” said Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, while responding to a query on ESA’s working relations with NASA over the past one year.

Another ESA official noted that it was not only budgetary but also mission priorities that different space agencies are now considering while planning.

The ESA chief, however, underlined that co-operation and collaboration with NASA on all other missions were progressing well.

On ESA’s Rosalin Franklin rover, part of the ExoMars mission, Aschbacher said that the mission launch was being planned for 2028.

” This will be the first mission to dig 2 metres deep into Martian land and look for traces of any life,” he said.

Having fully recovered from the fewer space missions launched during 2023 and 2024, ESA, Aschbacher said, in 2026, is gearing up for a record number of missions and launches.

A total of 65 space missions, of which 48 were earth observation missions, were being readied for launch this year. Some of these also include missions planned with other countries and private players.

” 2023 – 2024 saw a crisis in ESA’s space launches but we are not in a strong position,” he said.

For 2026, ESA has chalked out a budgetary outlay worth Euro 8.26 billion and major contributions made by Germany, France, Italy, UK, Belgium and Spain.