Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Follow On to the Curiosity Rover Mission Announced

Following on the success of Curiosity, NASA announced recently that the follow on to Curiosity is well underway and is scheduled for Mars in 2020.

This newest rover project will lean heavily on the work done by Curiosity.  Much of the technology and hardware will mirror Curiosity's almost completely.  This is, in part, due to funding which is half of  the two billion that was allotted  to the Curiosity project.  Also its' mission will be fundamentally the same as that of Curiosity.  

One of NASA's goals in the future is a system to bring Martian soil samples back to Earth for further analyst.  The as yet unnamed rover mission will help lay the ground work for that future mission.     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

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