NASA is planning to send another rover to Mars in 2009 to further explore the red planet and, hopefully, discover even more things about our solar system and about planets in general. The MSL, Mars Science Laboratory, is going to be different from other Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, due to the fact that it will be able to carry approximately 165 pounds of equipment. The other rovers, much smaller in size, were only able to carry 11 pounds of instruments, making the MSL quite a big improvement.

Unfortunately, the work on the new Mars rover suffered some delays and is in need for extra funding. In order for the project to remain on course, NASA has already overspent on the MSL. The original budget for the rover was $1.6 billion, current costs being estimated at about $1.9 billion. NASA said it is going to address Congress for the extra funding it needs and that the chances for approval are quite high. There have been some issues regarding the new Mars rover mainly because of its size. Some of these issues concern the joint motors and the fact that the MSL will have to land on Mars using some sort of “sky-crane” rocket as bouncing bags wouldn’t support the impact.

NASA said that keeping this program on schedule is crucial to the Mars exploration program, mainly because launches to the red planet can be done only when the alignment between Mars and Earth is right and this happens every two years. Not finishing in time would ultimately be more expensive than launching the rover right on schedule.