Mars Exploration Joint Initiative

[4] 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.

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.

[2] The executive board recommended NASA and ESA to 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,[9][10] in order to pay for the cost overruns of the James Webb Space Telescope.

[12] 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.

Collobrative design at point called for two rovers being delivered at once that would explore Mars together. In 2010 there was the idea to these into one larger 600 kg rover. [ 1 ]
JWST survive a 2011 cancellation attempt, but is predicted to cost US$8.8 billion. [ 8 ]