Notes for editors

ESA and NASA share a common interest in conducting robotic missions to the Red Planet for scientific purposes and preparing for eventual human visits. After a series of extensive discussions, the science heads of both agencies agreed on a plan of cooperation during a July 2009 bilateral meeting in Plymouth, UK. The plan consists of two Mars cooperative exploration missions, in 2016 and 2018.

For information about ESA and NASA’s Mars programmes, visit: http://exploration.esa.int and http://www.nasa.gov/mars