NASA plans to put another Curiosity-like rover on Mars in 2020

Who says NASA doesn't have big plans for the next decade? Following the universally extolled launch of Curiosity onto Mars' surface earlier this year, the American space entity is reportedly looking to launch another in 2020. The news was dealt at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco today, and while details are thin at the moment, we're hearing that the next-generation 'bot will be "based on Curiosity." John Mace Grunsfeld, a NASA Management Astronaut and the Associate Administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters, was cited as the man responsible for divulging the news. All told, the budget for the so-called "Science Rover" will be around $1.5 billion, with none of that funding to be raked in from other departments.

The launch is part of a multi-year Mars program, which NASA says "affirms the agency's commitment to a bold exploration program that meets our nation's scientific and human exploration objectives." The planned portfolio includes the 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. More details can be found in the full release embedded after the break.

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Via: Business Insider

Source: Jonathan Amos (Twitter), NASA, NASA (Twitter)