Russia May Join NASA-European Mars Mission After Probe Loss
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Russia may accept an invitation to join U.S.-European space missions to Mars after suffering the “heavy blow” of losing a $163 million space probe bound for the second-closest planet to Earth.
Russia is talking to NASA and the European Space Agency about participating in two Mars expeditions, in 2016 and 2018, according to Vladimir Popovkin, who heads Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos. It may send exploration equipment along with the missions, or assist with the rocket that launches the ships into space, he said yesterday in an interview in Moscow.