European Space Mission to Mars Delayed by Two Years

Europe's flagship space project ExoMars which was to scour the surface of the Red Planet for signs of life has been delayed by at least two years due to burgeoning costs.

The project was originally planned for execution in late 2013. It must now slip to early 2016 which provides the next window of opportunity since Earth and Mars will again be closest in their orbital paths.

This is not the first delay the project is experiencing. It was already delayed from 2011 as project engineers struggled with technical complexity.

The project was conceived as one requiring 650 million Euros. But it was later decided to expand the scope by increasing the sophistication of robotic instrumentation. That has raised the cost to over 1.2 billion Euros. The Italians are the main financiers of the work but have refused to expand their share. The European Space Agency (ESA) is hopeful of securing additional funding from America or Russia given that they have already provided technical support.

If the program fails to go ahead at all, it would be a huge blow to the ESA's master plan to explore the entire solar system. Europe only once before has attempted to land on Martian soil and that mission lost contact upon entry into the Martian atmosphere. ESA's main achievement in regards to Mars remains a remote-sensing satellite that continues to relay aerial photos.