ExoMars mission scaled down but set for 2016

The credit crunch has hit everywhere and ExoMars will have its Humboldt experiment removed from the mission which would have studied Marsquakes, the make up of the soil, radiation levels and some meteorolgy.

Interesting to see future missions will be NASA/ESA badged with both agencies pulling resources to get there on budget and sometime in our life time. Even Soyuz vehicles are soon to be launched from the ESA site in French Guyana. It is the only way to go in such times.

Still 7 years to launch and another to get there the gap is to long.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8102086.stm