spacetoday.net: NASA seeks input on Mars mission concepts

Posted: Sat, Apr 14, 2012, 10:13 AM ET (1413 GMT)
Mars seen by Hubble August 2003 (STScI)

NASA officials said Friday they are seeking ideas for potential future Mars missions as part of the agency's effort to restructure its Mars exploration program. NASA is formally soliciting "ideas and abstracts" regarding the agency's Mars exploration program, with selected abstracts to be presented at a conference in Houston in June. NASA plans to use those concepts as inputs to their ongoing Mars exploration program restructuring that got underway in February and is scheduled to be completed later this year. That restructuring may include an effort to fly a Mars mission of some kind as soon as 2018 with an estimated budget of $700 million. NASA started the revamp after deciding to terminate the agency's participation in the joint ExoMars program with ESA, which featured a Mars orbiter launched in 2016 and a Mars lander and rover in 2018. ESA is now seeking to continue ExoMars with Russia as a partner.