Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the - Solar System ...

FIGURE 2.10 The surface of Titan as seen by the Huygens lander. Cassini-Huygens is an example of
successful international cooperation in planetary exploration. SOURCE: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of
Arizona.
A common collaborative arrangement is the provision of resources by foreign partners to NASAled
missions (and vice versa); these resources might include, for example, payload instruments, other key
flight elements, or team members. NASA contributions to foreign missions have been funded by
programs such as the past “Mission of Opportunity” or the present SALMON (Stand-Alone Missions of
Opportunity). For example, India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission carried a U.S. instrument and NASA’s
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter includes a Russian instrument. NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover and
Phoenix missions included instruments and team members from Germany, Denmark, and Canada.
Canada, France, Spain and Russia are contributing elements of the Mars Science Laboratory payload, and
Italy and the United Kingdom have contributed to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. NASA’s
second New Frontiers mission Juno will carry an auroral instrument provided by the Italian Space
Agency. NASA is providing two instruments to ESA’s Rosetta comet mission; European nations are
making multiple contributions to the payload for Dawn, NASA’s mission to Vesta and Ceres and to
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory. These collaborations dramatically expand mission capabilities, and
are crucial to developing a strong and most effective international scientific community. Among
cooperative efforts now underway is NASA’s contribution to the instrument payload for the ESA-led
Mars Trace Gas Orbiter, part of an evolving long-term cooperation between NASA and ESA in Mars
exploration.
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