Expanded Multi-Year Mars Exploration Program announced by NASA

An expanded version of the current NASA program, for the continued exploration of Mars, was announced by the space agency this week. The new multi-year Mars exploration program will reportedly include a new robotic science rover which is scheduled for a launch to the red planet in 2020.

According to a press release from NASA, the multi-year Mars exploration plan will be comprised of the existing Curiosity and Opportunity rovers; two NASA spacecraft and contributions to one European spacecraft currently orbiting Mars; the 2013 launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter to study the Martian upper atmosphere; the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission, which will take the first look into the deep interior of Mars; and participation in ESA’s 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions, including providing “Electra” telecommunication radios to ESA’s 2016 mission and a critical element of the premier astrobiology instrument on the 2018 ExoMars rover.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden referenced the current White House administration’s support for the program saying, “The Obama administration is committed to a robust Mars exploration program.” “Bolden continued, “With this next mission, we’re ensuring America remains the world leader in the exploration of the Red Planet, while taking another significant step toward sending humans there in the 2030s.”

Scheduled for a launch in 2020, there are plans to design and build a new Mars robotic science rover. This mission will constitute another step toward being responsive to high-priority science goals and the president’s challenge of sending humans to Mars orbit in the 2030s.

Taking advantage of a proven platform, NASA indicated that the development and deployment of the future Mars rovers will be based on the successful architecture of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) which delivered the Curiosity to the Red Planet.

“The challenge to restructure the Mars Exploration Program has turned from the seven minutes of terror for the Curiosity landing to the start of seven years of innovation,” NASA’s associate administrator for science, and astronaut John Grunsfeld said. “This mission concept fits within the current and projected Mars exploration budget, builds on the exciting discoveries of Curiosity, and takes advantage of a favorable launch opportunity.”

The Mars program page on NASA’s website (www.nasa.gov/mars) is a great resource for complete and continual information about current and future missions to explore the Earth’s closest planetary neighbor in the solar system.