NASA Is About to Give Up On Going to Mars?

You may have heard that NASA and the ESA were going to collaborate on ExoMars, a joint mission to get another rover on Mars as well as a permanent orbiting satellite. It’s an inspiring story of human achievement and collaboration…and NASA budget cuts are apparently about to flush the whole thing down the crapper.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but NASA, even as it’s taken a beating from two successive administrations, is still a pretty amazing agency with a lot of research and instrumentation know-how. Their departure from the project would be a disaster in multiple ways, not least being the possible cancellation of the project.

ExoMars isn’t dead yet: the ESA may be capable of collaborating with the Russians, although we’re not sure we’d trust the Russian space program with all that much.

Still, just look at how disappointed Kuato is, NASA. The little guy is heartbroken.

[ via BBC ]

image courtesy Lionsgate