US may pull out of Mars collaboration with Europe

BBC : Due to financial woes, NASA may be forced to withdraw from its partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the dual ExoMars robotic space missions. NASA expects to know more after 13 February, when President Obama announces his 2013 budget. The US agreed to provide equipment and launch rockets for an orbiter and a rover to go up in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Because ESA has already invested heavily in the ExoMars project, it has started looking for other partners, foremost of which is the Russian space agency Roscosmos. This is not the first time the US has reneged on a project with Europe, so the decision may have “grave implications for transatlantic relations,” writes Jonathan Amos for the BBC.