Let's just hope they choose to launch this one on an Ariane-5.
It is looking like they will be launching on a Russian rocket for both the 2016 and 2018 missions
It's not clear what bus will be used for the missions - is this going to be yet another attempt to fly a Phobos derivative to Mars?
Is there some PowerPoint showing all these various elements of the two missions?
This is good news. One titbit though - Chris, since when has Canada become ESA state?
Quote from: notsorandom on 03/14/2013 11:41 amIt is looking like they will be launching on a Russian rocket for both the 2016 and 2018 missionsYes, Proton-M rockets with Briz-M upper stages.
Is the Trace Gas Orbiter based on the Mars Express bus?
Heard some interesting rumors about this marriage. Apparently the Europeans are less than happy with the work they've seen by the Russians. I won't go into any more detail than that, except to say that some people are apparently very worried about the level of expertise in the Russian space program.
Quote from: Blackstar on 03/15/2013 12:49 amHeard some interesting rumors about this marriage. Apparently the Europeans are less than happy with the work they've seen by the Russians. I won't go into any more detail than that, except to say that some people are apparently very worried about the level of expertise in the Russian space program.Really, after several decades of cooperation on planetary missions they are suddenly saying this now? I would doubt the rumours.
Quote from: Dalhousie on 03/15/2013 01:42 amQuote from: Blackstar on 03/15/2013 12:49 amHeard some interesting rumors about this marriage. Apparently the Europeans are less than happy with the work they've seen by the Russians. I won't go into any more detail than that, except to say that some people are apparently very worried about the level of expertise in the Russian space program.Really, after several decades of cooperation on planetary missions they are suddenly saying this now? I would doubt the rumours.I, on the other hand, isn't too surprised with this. But I doubt that they are more unhappy than the Russians themselves - when even Popovkin had to say about the problems with expertise in the aerospace industry, you know that the pressure is high within the Russians.The lucky thing is that the P-G nightmares really did set off the alarm in the organization within Russian aerospace units, and there are signs (not very strong, but certainly robust) that they really want to clear off the problems of the past. I think the smell test will be the planned lunar missions in the next 4 years (2 landers and 1 orbiter planned - I assume that at least 1 of them will get off the ground) - that should give the outsiders a glimpse of the current system management levels for planetary exploration missions before the big Russian hardware for ExoMars flies in 2018.