This launch will slip to 2020. Everybody I talk to about it says that it's going to slip, they just have not made the formal announcement yet.
Apparently the next 3 Mars years will be quite exciting: ExoMars, the 2020 Rover, the 2022 Orbiter (NeMo I think), and Red Dragon It'll be like 2003 again!
Quote from: redliox on 04/30/2016 09:50 pmApparently the next 3 Mars years will be quite exciting: ExoMars, the 2020 Rover, the 2022 Orbiter (NeMo I think), and Red Dragon It'll be like 2003 again! ExoMars will slip to 2020. Red Dragon will slip to 2020 or later. The 2022 orbiter will probably slip as well due to budgeting issues. InSight will launch in 2018, and China will try a mission in 2020.
Quote from: Blackstar on 05/01/2016 02:02 amQuote from: redliox on 04/30/2016 09:50 pmApparently the next 3 Mars years will be quite exciting: ExoMars, the 2020 Rover, the 2022 Orbiter (NeMo I think), and Red Dragon It'll be like 2003 again! ExoMars will slip to 2020. Red Dragon will slip to 2020 or later. The 2022 orbiter will probably slip as well due to budgeting issues. InSight will launch in 2018, and China will try a mission in 2020.I don't know why they even moved the date for Red Dragon forward they might as well left it where it was. Other than trying to obtain headlines.Is it just money delaying the ExoMars rover or other factors as well?
Quote from: Star One on 05/01/2016 07:51 amQuote from: Blackstar on 05/01/2016 02:02 amQuote from: redliox on 04/30/2016 09:50 pmApparently the next 3 Mars years will be quite exciting: ExoMars, the 2020 Rover, the 2022 Orbiter (NeMo I think), and Red Dragon It'll be like 2003 again! ExoMars will slip to 2020. Red Dragon will slip to 2020 or later. The 2022 orbiter will probably slip as well due to budgeting issues. InSight will launch in 2018, and China will try a mission in 2020.I don't know why they even moved the date for Red Dragon forward they might as well left it where it was. Other than trying to obtain headlines.Is it just money delaying the ExoMars rover or other factors as well?From snippets in press accounts quoting ESA officials, it sounds as if ESA hasn't quite gathered all the funding needed (the total bill is much more than the original program was sold at and this is an optional program under the ESA system, so it's hat in hand) and development is going more slowly than desired because of interface friction between the ESA and Russian design teams.
How confident should we be that it will launch in 2020?
ExoMars will slip to 2020. Red Dragon will slip to 2020 or later. The 2022 orbiter will probably slip as well due to budgeting issues. InSight will launch in 2018, and China will try a mission in 2020.
Peter B. de Selding @pbdes 2m2 minutes agoESA/Roscosmos: ExoMars 2018 is scrapped. Too little time to prepare; we'll launch the rover in July 2020, the next window.
Yep, official release from ESA;http://www.esa.int/For_Media/Press_Releases/Second_ExoMars_mission_moves_to_next_launch_opportunity_in_2020At least this means there is now a choice of landing sites.
Looks like the delay is finally official;QuotePeter B. de Selding @pbdes 2m2 minutes agoESA/Roscosmos: ExoMars 2018 is scrapped. Too little time to prepare; we'll launch the rover in July 2020, the next window.
Is the 2020 window more favourable for landing sites then? Otherwise there's always been a choice.
However, if the hardware cannot be prepared in time - and there is some doubt that it can be - then the departure will occur in 2020.If that is the case then scientists and engineers will also consider two other locations - Mawrth Vallis and Aram Dorsum.
Two years’ delay means additional costs. What are they?A: We are trying to minimize them by building the spacecraft as quickly as possible so as not to stretch all the [program development elements] over two years and two months, which would mean maximum extra costs. The subcontractors are pretty much on schedule, so what we plan to do – pending a new, integrated and finalized schedule – is try to build all the models we have to build. Then during the storage period we would no longer have very big teams working for the mission. That will decrease the cost as much as possible.Do you have a cost estimate?We are negotiating with the prime contractors on what will be a reasonable price. We were still negotiating the full development contracts for the 2018 mission. We were very close to finalizing this and now this adds a little bit of complexity. That’s why we are trying not to mention any numbers here, because it will not help our negotiations with Airbus Defence and Space, which is responsible for the rover, and with Thales Alenia Space Italia, which is overall program prime contractor.
Does this have anything to do with Roscosmos budget cuts?No, it has nothing to do with that. They are having severe budget cuts compared to last year, but this is not impacting ExoMars. ExoMars is still a high priority for them.