ESA, Europa, and the Moon

So now the European Space Agency wants to join NASA on its trip to Europa.  That is good for international cooperation and funding since ESA may contribute about $550 million related to a separate probe.  NASA already has about $2 billion in funding for the mission.  Alvaro Gimenez, ESA’s director of science and robotic exploration. stated:

We are ready and interested...As I said to my colleague in the U.S., we cannot allow Americans to go to Europa without Europeans. We have to be part of it. We think that it is natural, but certainly we will not lead, so we have to wait.

I am surprised since ESA has its own plans for Europa via the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE).  Both the NASA mission and JUICE are slated for 2022.  It could make sense for ESA to contribute to the NASA mission and vice versa to double the chances that the two space agencies will get a craft to Europa.

That does not mean both space agencies see eye-to-eye on all future missions, particularly manned missions.  While NASA seems to be aiming for manned missions to Mars, the European Space Agency (ESA) is gunning for the occupation of the Moon.  In this video, Destination: Moon, ESA discusses how we have explored only a part of the Moon, highlights the need to determine how much water is really below the surface, points out the advantages of a telescope outside of Earth's interference, and recommends an international Moon base similar to the arrangement in Antarctica.

While many in the United States would say "been there, done that," ESA makes a convincing argument that more can be learned about the Moon and thereby the Earth.  This would be much better than our decades in low-Earth orbit, but not as sexy as Mars.  Maybe ESA could lead the lunar mission while NASA focuses on Mars.  Of course, with Russia and China also planning manned missions to the Moon, I expect the United States might feel left out.  But we can still be there, if only "leading from behind," with some of our heavy-lift rockets and hard-earned expertise. It has been a long time since we had astronauts on the Moon and a permanent mission sounds like a good idea for everyone involved.

Update: To be fair, ESA contributed about $470 million to the Orion service module, indicating plenty of support for a manned Mars mission. It appears ESA is hoping such support may provide a spot for a European astronaut on the trip to Mars. That is cheaper and smarter than funding a separate mission.