According to this BBC article, European space officials are redesigning their planned ExoMars mission, hoping to substantially increase the planned capabilities. But that means nearly doubling the cost of the mission, an idea that has yet to be officially submitted to Europe's finance ministers.
The original concept for the ExoMars mission was to develop a rover that could roll across the Martian surface looking for signs of past or present biological life, and help researchers draw conclusions about the possibility of life developing on other planets. The data returned would complement that being gathered by the NASA rovers currently on the surface.
But over three years of development, it has become clear that the scientific goals for the project have expanded. Officials now say it is essentially a different mission altogether, and thus needs a new name, and a new budget. Here's European Space Agency head Jean Jacques Dordain, as quoted by the BBC:
The mission is currently slated for launch in 2013, two years later than the original date. But Dordain says he still has to go back to the funding countries in November, and ask them for a near-doubling of the project's roughly $940 million budget. That's sure to cause a little sticker shock.
Makeover for Europe's Mars robot [BBC]
(Image: A concept image of the ExoMars rover. Credit: ESA)
