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[i]With NASA's fiscal-year 2013 budget now saying formally what had been whispered for weeks — the U.S. agency is pulling out entirely of a planned 2016 mission and cannot commit to the follow-on 2018 mission — the European Space Agency finds itself between a rock and a hard place. The agency does not want to end industrial work on the two missions and lose its past investment. Delaying the launches to 2018 and 2020 is also rejected because “it would mean keeping industrial teams together for two additional years, and cost a lot more money,” ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain said. But moving forward likely will mean ESA needs to find extra money for a project that has been unable to complete its funding despite more than three years of effort. ESA has rounded up 850 million euros ($1.1 billion) in support for ExoMars, led by Italy. The mission, as designed with NASA’s involvement, was estimated to cost ESA 1 billion euros.[/i]
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