NASA talked about the new rover and other Mars exploration plans

From the translator: Unfortunately, despite the obvious and significant achievements in the field of planetary research, many countries continue to cut funding for this area of ​​science. The exception was not and NASA, whose budget will be cut as early as next year. However, NASA has rather ambitious plans for further exploration of Mars, which include, among other things, the development of a new rover.

Without stopping the attempts to reorganize the Mars exploration program, which became necessary after this year's budget cuts were reported, NASA announced plans to send a new rover to the Red Planet, based on Curiosity's $ 1.5 billion development, in 2020.
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This still unnamed mars rover is the second of the new Martian missions that, due to budget cuts, will use the existing developments, which more or less corresponds to the realities of financing at the moment.

“In the form of the Mars Exploration Program, we were seriously challenged. What began with seven minutes of horror at landing Curiosity, will be the starting point for seven years of innovation, "- said NASA supervisor John Gransfeld (John Grunsfeld).

Here he refers to the "sky crane" - the innovative rocket landing system Curiosity - which successfully landed the rover working on atomic energy on the surface of the Red Planet on August 6.

“The concept of this mission fits well with both the current and planned budget for Mars exploration; it is based on the developments of Curiosity and uses a good opportunity for launching [apparently meaning that in 2020 the mutual position of Earth and Mars will facilitate launching, ”he said,” Gransfeld said. “We are going to use our old team to build a new rover by 2020. All this will allow us to fulfill the plan, having gone to the current budget. ”

The Obama administration's budget for 2013 provides for a 20 percent reduction in the cost of NASA planetary research, with most of it going to the Mars program. In the coming years, further budget cuts are expected.

As a result, NASA had to abandon two planned Martian missions, which were to be carried out jointly with the European Space Agency in 2016 and 2018. At the time, there were no significant planetary missions like Curiosity in development.

Among critics from some representatives of the scientific community, NASA began to work out alternative approaches and scenarios.

In August, just two weeks after landing Curiosity, NASA announced that it would launch a relatively cheap descent vehicle in 2016. He will have to land on Mars using rocket thrust, and his main task will be to answer the question whether the core of the planet is solid, as well as to find out if there are tectonic plates on Mars that move like the earth.

This unit, called InSight - Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, will be based on the design of the successful Phoenix probe - a solar-powered descent vehicle that landed near the north polar cap of the Red Planet in May 2008.


_{InSight (artist's drawing)}

InSight will be equipped with a robotic “hand”, two black-and-white cameras, and survey instruments from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will measure the position of the axis of rotation of the planet. As a so-called “mission of the Discovery class,” the cost of the project is limited to 425 million dollars excluding the launch vehicle.

The cost of the new rover, which was announced on Tuesday, will be (taking into account the launch vehicle), according to preliminary estimates, approximately $ 1.5 billion, plus or minus 200 million.

Curiosity cost a total of 2.5 billion, and its development lasted about 10 years. However, the new rover will not have to reinvent new systems and develop technologies, which will allow NASA to better control costs.

Gransfeld also noted that the Mars Program will allow NASA to remain the leader in planetary research.

Along with the currently operating vehicles — the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers, two working artificial Mars satellites, and modules aboard a satellite of the European Space Agency — the revised Mars exploration program includes:

• satellite MAVEN - The Mars Atmosphere and Volative Evolution - which is scheduled to launch in 2013
• communications equipment for the European Space Agency Trace Gas Explirer mission in 2016 and astrobiological equipment for the European Space Agency Mars rover in 2018.
• InSight mission scheduled for 2018
• The new rover, the launch of which is scheduled for 2020.

“We have a lot of budget problems,” Gransfeld told reporters. “We are still working on a budget for 2013. Plus, the Administration is considering our proposals for the 2014 budget. ”

Congressman Adam Schiff (Adam Schiff) also stated that "an improved rover with additional tools and enhanced capabilities is the logical next step, based on proven landing systems."

However, he would like to move the launch date to 2018.

“Despite the fact that 2020 will be successful in terms of the location of Mars and Earth, the launch in 2018 would be an even better option. This would send even more payloads to Mars. We, together with NASA, the White House and my colleagues in Congress, will work on this and decide whether a change in launch date will be possible. ”

Gransfeld, however, warned that “2020 is already quite ambitious, and we will have to do a lot of work. The launch is possible by 2018, but it will not be easy. Perhaps, because of this, we will have to exclude from the program some studies that would have been possible if we had two more years left. In a sense, it will be a step backwards. ”