Next-Gen Mars Rover Mission Delayed 2 Years, To 2011

Riding with Robots writes "NASA announced today that the Mars Science Laboratory, the agency's next Mars rover mission, is now slated to launch in 2011 instead of next year. 'We've reached the point where we can not condense the schedule further without compromising vital testing,' said NASA's director for Mars exploration. The length of the delay is driven by the fact that the orbits of Earth and Mars only provide a favorable flight window every two years."

Comments

Late-Breaking News: Infiltrator Squads Revealed!

[Tackhead]

The most Illustrious Council of Elders has issued an update concerning the recent lack of activity from the Blue World. K'Breel, Speaker for the Council, spake thus:

It can now be revealed that our highly-classified programmes in genetic engineering have borne fruit. The thick miasma of nitrogen, oxygen, and water vapor that enrobes the Blue World is no longer an obstacle to us!

Years ago, dozens of volunteers committed to making the supreme sacrifice, agreeing to genetic modifications that would turn their gelsacs inside-out, that they might be able to breathe the Blue Worlders' toxic soup. Highly-trained, and knowing that theirs was a one-way trip, our infiltrator squads have lived among the Blue Worlders for many years, seeking out employment in the very hearts of their terror labs, and today it can be revealed that they have struck yet another blow against our foe.

It is no longer necessary for our infiltrators to covertly fiddle with their units of measurement in order to achieve victory *after* launch; the presence of so many infiltrator squads on their homeworld now enables us to overtly delay their launches by a full year or longer!

Citizens, REJOICE!

When a dissident journalist suggested that recently-deciphered transmissions suggesting that a combination of economic instability and general technological backwardness among the blue worlders might also account for the observed lack of activity from the enemy homeworld, K'Breel thanked the journalist for his great courage in volunteering for the next infiltrator mission, and had him sent to the nearest genetic re-engineering facility, where the process of gelsac inversion would begin.

Re:Silver Lining

[DerekLyons]

They now have 2 years to make it better, faster, more efficient, etc.

Nope. This late in the game (even with a two year delay) all the hardware is either already built or nearing completion. Redoing major hardware for minor improvements just isn't in the cards. (Most of the hardware is already at 90's standards - where it isn't at 21st century standards.)