science

Mars Exploration Joint Initiative

Mars Exploration Joint Initiative is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mars Exploration Joint Initiative rather than just read about it. In short: The Mars Exploration Joint Initiative (MEJI) is an agreement signed between United States' space agency, NASA, and Europe's space agency, ESA to join resources and expertise in order to continue the exploration of the planet Mars. The agreement was signed in Washington D.C. in October 2009, between NASA administrator Charles Bolden and ESA director-general Jean-Jacques Dordain.

Key takeaways

Mars Exploration Joint Initiative belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mars Exploration Joint Initiative to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mars Exploration Joint Initiative from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Mars Exploration Joint Initiative (MEJI) is an agreement signed between United States' space agency, NASA, and Europe's space agency, ESA to join resources and expertise in order to continue the exploration of the planet Mars. The agreement was signed in Washington D.C. in October 2009, between NASA administrator Charles Bolden and ESA director-general Jean-Jacques Dordain. In its hey-day it resulted in a synergy between NASA Mars Science Orbiter and the Aurora ExoMars program, the combination of a flexible collaborative proposal within NASA and ESA to send a new orbiter-carrier to Mars in 2016 as part of the European-led ExoMars project. One of the goals was for NASA to provide to Atlas V launches for ExoMars, however in the early 2010s planetary exploration in the USA was not given enough money to fund this plan. Under the FY2013 budget President Barack Obama released on 13 February 2012, NASA terminated its participation in ExoMars due to budgetary cuts in order to pay for the cost overruns of the James Webb Space Telescope. With NASA's funding for this project cancelled, most of ExoMars's plans had to be restructured.

History Discussions between NASA and ESA began in December 2008, driven by the ESA Ministerial Council's recommendation to seek international cooperation to complete the ExoMars mission and to prepare further Mars robotic exploration missions. At the same time, NASA was reassessing its Mars Exploration Program portfolio after the launch of its Mars Science Laboratory was delayed from 2009 to 2011. This provided NASA and ESA with an opportunity to increase cooperation and expand collective capabilities. The U.S. and Europe have taken the view that they can achieve more together scientifically at Mars if they combine their expertise. And with both parties' current Mars programmes also experiencing financial pressures, the shared approach means the exploration schedule of a mission every two years can be maintained. The executive board recommended that NASA and ESA establish MEJI, spanning launch opportunities in 2016, 2018 and 2020, with landers and orbiters conducting astrobiological, geological, geophysical and other high-priority investigations, and leading to the return of soil and rock samples from Mars in the 2020s.

Under the FY2013 Budget President Obama released on February 13, 2012, NASA was forced to pull out of joint Mars missions with Europe due to budgetary cuts, in order to pay for the cost overruns of the James Webb Space Telescope. The proposal for the Financial Year 2013 reduced the planetary science budget from $1.5bn to $1.2bn; Although planetary science was a loser in general, Mars exploration was singled out for particular cuts, receiving $360.8m, which amounts to a reduction of almost 40% from the FY2012 estimate. The cuts may plunge the field into its biggest crisis since the 1980s and is considered likely to lead to the loss of up to 2,000 high-tech jobs. On February 29, 2012, the U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA funding, rejected the space agency's request to begin shutting down its joint Mars-exploration effort with the European Space Agency, until the issue can be debated thoroughly. The committee believes that "so radical a change in policy needs and deserves to be fully considered by a process that is more rigorous and more inclusive than the reprogramming notification." Regardless of the final outcome by the House Appropriations subcommittee, NASA will continue with its own Mars exploration projects: Mars Science Laboratory, MAVEN orbiter, Mars 2020 rover, and InSight lander.

Current status In April 2018, a letter of intent was signed by NASA and ESA that may provide a basis for a Mars sample-return mission. It is unclear if this is a new initiative or a restart of the original Mars Exploration Joint Initiative. The two agencies would need to draw up the mission architecture, and would be seeking commercial partners to collaborate on any sample-return mission.

Missions In its original version, the MEJI vision would have encompassed the following launch opportunities:

2016: A European-led orbiter (ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter), to study trace gases, including methane in Mars's atmosphere. The mission would also put a static meteorological station on the surface. Europe would handle the entry, descent and landing of this station - a capability it has yet to demonstrate. 2018: A European rover (ExoMars rover) would be dispatched to Mars. The U.S. would provide the entry, descent and landing system as being used by the Mars Science Laboratory. 2020: Under consideration is a network of very small landers focused on geophysics and the environment. NASA would provide Atlas V launch rockets in 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions. The ultimate aim is a mission to return Mars rock and soils to Earth: the Mars sample return mission, some time in the 2020s.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mars Exploration Joint Initiative

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mars Exploration Joint Initiative claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mars Exploration Joint Initiative before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mars Exploration Joint Initiative ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mars Exploration Joint Initiative

In research: Mars Exploration Joint Initiative appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mars Exploration Joint Initiative in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mars Exploration Joint Initiative is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics European Space Agency, Exploration of Mars, NASA, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mars Exploration Joint Initiative outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Mars Exploration Joint Initiative” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Mars Exploration Joint Initiative in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mars Exploration Joint Initiative means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mars Exploration Joint Initiative out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mars Exploration Joint Initiative in simple terms?

Why does Mars Exploration Joint Initiative matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mars Exploration Joint Initiative?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mars Exploration Joint Initiative.