[X] My Assistant

[imipak]

The BBC has a story on the new ExoMars rover technology demonstrator. "The MDA prototype can be viewed much like a car without its body. What you see in these pictures from a recent test session is essentially an undercarriage" -- which is good, because it's clearly not designed to look good

[peter59]

ESA to Delay Mars Rover Mission
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0810...-marsrover.html
PARIS — European Space Agency (ESA) governments tentatively have agreed to delay the launch of Europe's first-ever Mars rover by a little more than two years, to 2016, as part of a broader effort to rein in project costs and seek deeper cooperation with NASA and the Russian space agency, European government officials said.

[gpurcell]

I've got a very bad feeling about this delay...the cost cap at $1B Euro is going to be a real challenge and I just don't see how NASA will have the funds to chip in additional money. Slipping from 11 to 13 to 16 sure seems like kicking the ball down the road every time real money needs to be spent on it.