NASA Will Reprise Curiosity's Design with 2020 Mars Rover

摘要

Just four months after the successful landing of the Mars Science Laboratory mission's Curiosity rover, NASA announced plans to send another science rover to the red planet in 2020. Faced with budget constraints that are likely to make it difficult for NASA to launch ambitious planetary missions to . Jupiter's moons or other en.ticing destinations in the near future, NASA officials have been evaluating the type of science and exploration missions the space agency could conduct with available resources, NASA's associate administrator for science, John Gransfeldosaid Dec. 4 at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting here. Those resources, including spare parts, engineering and technical expertise developed during a decade of preparation for the Curiosity mission, led NASA officials to conclude that a new Mars rover would provide important scientific contributions while fitting within the current budget, Grunsfeld said.