Article Posted on : - Jun 24, 2013

WASHINGTON (BNS): NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Italian Space Agency (ASI) President Enrico Saggese recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation on the European Space Agency- (ESA) led BepiColombo mission to Mercury, strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation between NASA and ASI in planetary exploration.

Bolden and Saggese also discussed NASA's plans for a new asteroid initiative, previously announced in President Obama's fiscal year 2014 budget proposal, as reported in a NASA news release.

Saggese expressed the strong interest of Italy for the initiative and welcomed the opportunity to discuss potential ASI participation in a long-term exploration strategy.