The launch of the Mars rover, planned for 2009, won’t go according to plan. NASA delayed the launch with two years, a move which adds about $400 million to the cost of the mission and may also cause some layoffs at JPL.

The delay of the SUV-sized Mars rover was caused by lingering technical problems, the space agency officials said Thursday. NASA “ran out of time,” said Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge.

"No one wants a $2 billion hole in the ground instead of a successful mission," said planetary scientist John Mustard of Brown University in Providence, who heads NASA's Mars program advisory panel.

The launch date of October 2009 is no longer feasible. Earth and Mars come close to each other once every 26 months so the next chance of launching the MLS is 2011.

Rigorous testing of components and systems is a key stage in the development of such a complex mission. Skipping or rushing it may result in the failure of the mission.

"We will not lessen our standards for testing the mission's complex flight systems, so we are choosing the more responsible option of changing the launch date," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The rover, known by the name of the Mars Science Laboratory or MSL, is a next generation, sophisticated project. It will carry an instrument payload 10 times heavier than the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which NASA sent to Mars in 2004. Its 43-inch-high deck, will enable the MLS to drive over obstacles of the Red Planet’s surface which made earlier generations of rovers inoperable.

The problem is that the additional $400 million, spread over 2011 to 2014, will come from other Mars missions. The space agency will consult with planetary scientists before moving funds from other programs, said NASA's Ed Weiler. NASA has already cut Mars office funding about 50% from previous years, he added.

Maybe NASA’s future collaboration with the European Space Agency on all future Mars missions will help.