It ’s reasonable to say that if you want to be a space scientist , you ’d better learn to be patient . Because aside from the dateless twelvemonth of planning and construction , delays are often fairly common .
And , well , that ’s exactly what ’s happened to Europe and Russia ’s next Mars missionary post . Their ExoMars rover , due to found in 2018 , has now been pushed back to 2020 , due to technical and funding issues during evolution of the rover .
“ Having assessed the potential ways to secure successful commission implementation … a launch in 2020 would be the better solution , ” the European Space Agency ( ESA ) said in astatement . The specifics of the delay are n’t only percipient , although funding and development issue seem to be the problem , with ESA and the Russian Space Agency ( Roscosmos ) refer to “ delays in European and Russian industrial activities and deliveries of the scientific payload . ”
This rover , which was initially say to launchin 2011 , will be the second part of the overall ExoMars project . The first part , which include an orbit space vehicle to study the atmosphere of Mars and a monstrance lander to do landing on Mars , launchedearlier this yearand will arrive in October .
But the rover , which will perform one of the most all-inclusive search for life on Mars to date , is arguably the most awaited part of the commission , so its delay is no uncertainty a blow to the various scientists involved .
care you were here ? NASA , J. Bell ( Cornell U. ) and M. Wolff ( SSI )
When the roamer does get there , though , it ’s blend to bepretty impressive . It will apply a drill to delve up to 2 cadence ( 6.5 fundament ) below the surface , with a suite of other instruments helping scientist bring out if Mars once hosted life – or still does today .
The reason for the two - twelvemonth holdup is that launches to Mars must occur in 26 - month windows , when the planet are aligned to permit for a relatively shorter journey between them . Thus , after the slip from 2018 , the next chance to launch is in July 2020 .
If you ’re yearning for a new Mars mission sooner though , do n’t fret . In 2018 , NASA will set up its InSight lander , itself alsodelayed by two year , which will also practise into the surface . And there ’s the small topic of SpaceX ’s remote-controlled Dragon missionin 2018 , details of which are few and far between at the consequence .
As for ExoMars , though , we ’ll have to expect just a piddling second longer to see the fruits of this exciting mission .
