Report by Spaceflight Now‘s Stephen Clark: With the flagship-class ExoMars program nearing the finish line after a decade in development, European Space Agency officials want to complete negotiations with the mission’s industrial teams before committing to a 2018 launch date for a European-built Mars rover.
Rolf de Groot, head of ESA’s robotic exploration coordination office, said the space agency is finalizing contracts with European industry to build a six-wheeled rover, a carrier stage for the trip from Earth to Mars, and critical components for a descent craft to be largely manufactured in Russia. [...] Engineers are under pressure to meet the 2018 launch window, and a formal schedule commitment will not come until ESA signs the final contracts for the mission.
“It’s pretty tight,” de Groot said. “At the moment, we don’t have a fully working schedule for 2018, but we are looking into possiblities to change procedures a bit and to tighten the schedule a little bit. We’re still confident we’ll be able to make it in 2018, but it’s a very tight schedule indeed.” [More at link]