CORDIS : Europe to develop its own exploration on the Moon and Mars

Europe's heavy launcher Ariane5 takes off from the Kourou Space Port
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Europe to develop its own exploration on the Moon and Mars

Scientists working with the European Science Foundation (ESF) are to publish a research programme in May for the exploration of the Moon and Mars. The Aurora Programme was established by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2001 as part of Europe's contribution to the international endeavour to explore the solar system. The programme will aim to combine scientific and technological goals when it sends its flotilla of robotic probes to pave the way for humans to land on Mars in the 2030s. 'Aurora is not science-driven in the same way as the mandatory science programme of ESA [the European Space Agency],' says Dr Jean-Claude Worms, of ESF. 'It's a technology-driven programme though it does of course have an important science component.'

Indeed, the first Aurora mission to be launched in 2013 or 2014 will be ExoMars, a robotic spacecraft equipped with solar arrays to generate electricity and navigate autonomously with the help of software and optical sensors. Once on the red planet, it will release a rover carrying a laboratory able to analyse rock and soil samples for signs of life.