spacetoday.net: NASA announces plans for 2020 Mars rover mission

Posted: Wed, Dec 5, 2012, 5:50 AM ET (1050 GMT)
Mars Science Laboratory illustration (NASA/JPL)

NASA announced Tuesday it plans to develop a Mars rover based on the Mars Science Laboratory mission for launch in 2020. The rover wil take advantage of spare parts built for the original MSL rover, Curiosity, including a backup RTG power source. A science definition team will select a new suite of instruments for the rover, as well as decide whether the rover should have the ability to collect and cache samples for later return to Earth on a future mission. NASA estimates the rover misson will cost $1.5 billion and will fit within the reduced funding profile for NASA's Mars program in its 2013 budget request. NASA said it will also extend the lives of current Mars missions, including Curiosity.