On Thursday, NASA announced that their next mission to Mars will be delayed until 2011. The mission involved sending the Mars Science Laboratory, which is the most complex rover ever built by the spatial agency. The task had been originally scheduled in late 2009.

The postponement added a rough $400 million to the initial cost of $1.9 billion, thus totaling to nearly 2.3 billion dollars. Doug McCuistion, Mars exploration chief, stated that the cause of the delay and increasing costs are a series of technical problems. Other than that, the agency is overall confident about the mission, as NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said: "Despite the delay, work on the mission really is progressing well with the exception of the motor problem."

Problems consist of solar panel malfunction, computer software problems, general issues with the steering mechanism and several fissures in a pipe. On the other hand, the main problems NASA is facing with the mission are related to the motor and gear boxes that are crucial elements to the main goal of the assignment because the rover is supposed to move across a pretty large area to collect data from soil with the aid of a robotic arm.

The Mars Science Laboratory is the largest rover to be sent to Mars by NASA. It is equipped with the most advanced technology that is set to collect geological and climatic data from a larger area than its predecessors in an attempt to conclude whether the Red Planet supports or has microbial life. The MSL will be launched by an Atlas V 451 rocket.