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

Posted by timothy on from the reschedule-your-vacations-please dept.

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."

8 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. Again... by wdconinc · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Delays and ballooning expenses: some reform at NASA is in order...

    1. Re:Again... by cupofjoe · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Delays and ballooning expenses: some reform at NASA is in order...

      Well, your comment is undoubtedly going to be a common one.

      I was almost inspired to begin "Oh, please...", but I have to admit: I'm a technocrat at heart, and it's just a knee-jerk reaction.

      Regarding Stern's Op-Ed, note that he was in SMD (Science Mission Directorate), a portion of NASA that routinely suffers cutbacks that reward "...the guilty" and punish "...the innocent," to borrow his phraseology, mostly in favor of the Manned Space Program.

      The issue facing MSL is, indeed, endemic within the ranks of advanced "marquee" missions; furthermore, one cannot ignore the fact that it is easily the most advanced planetary surface mission conceived to date. It's likely some mismatch of management and planning has occurred.

      The action to delay MSL's launch until the 2011 window, though, is a choice between following through on a bad bet vs. saving an good investment. It must be seen in light of what it represents: a decision to maximize a return on an already large investment of spent money instead of wasting it unwisely on unnecessary risk.

      Just 0.02.

      Cheers,
      --joe.

    2. Re:Again... by amliebsch · · Score: 2, Funny

      Balooning expenses? What, are they using laboratory-grade helium or something?

      --
      If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
  2. Silver Lining by Prysorra · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Looking back, one thing that scientists wish they had is the imaging technology of the 90's...or even now.....back when they first launched Voyager in the 70's. Heck, computers too.

    Now I'm NOT playing the "what if" game, but it helps keep our chins up when things look down.

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

    Except cheaper. Too late lol.

    1. Re:Silver Lining by RabidMoose · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Good, fast, cheap. Pick two.

    2. Re:Silver Lining by clone53421 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You're mistaking "fast" meaning performance (i.e. this falls under "good") with "fast" meaning development (and it's taken decades to develop computers as good as the ones we have today).

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    3. Re:Silver Lining by DerekLyons · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.)

  3. Late-Breaking News: Infiltrator Squads Revealed! by Tackhead · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.