NASA's next-gen Rovers, armed with the task of searching Mars' soil for the possible chemical building blocks for life, could face a delay from its original 2009 launch date as the program faces mass budgetary problems.
Undoubtedly, one of NASA's greatest accomplishments since the manned missions to the Moon has been the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which have been running for 4 years exploring Mars' surface. However, the next-generation Rovers, which were given the task of inspecting the soil on the surface of the red planet and beaming the information back to earth, as well as providing more information for a manned mission to Mars, are facing
budgetary setbacks that could delay the launch date, and potentially put the mission in jeopardy.
The mission, which has an anticipated budget of 1.8 billion dollars (US), is facing problems with the heat-shields that are being designed to protect the next-gen rovers, as testing has proved over and over that they would fail against the extreme heat caused from atmospheric entrance. These issues, which appear to have a solution that is derived from the Stardust probe that re-entered Earth's atmosphere in a cocoon-like cover, stands to add between 20-30 million dollars to the project, which is already 165 million dollars over its budget.
However, the nuclear-powered Mars Science Lab's problems are not out of the ordinary, says NASA administrator Michael Griffin.
Engineers initially wanted to use a heat shield like the type on the space shuttle's external fuel tank, but extensive testing last spring proved it would break. NASA switched to a stronger cover similar to the one that cocooned the Stardust probe, which returned to Earth in 2006 with comet dust.
In order to help relieve some of the financial costs, NASA cut out a camera from the Lab and stopped work on a laser chemistry tool - both of which were subsequently re-added after a third party offered to design the camera at its own expense, and the project received more funding for the laser.
How this will fare for the actual launch date is exceptionally important, as any delay would result is ballooning expenses. However, with such an important emphasis being placed on exploring Mars, it seems likely that the project will go on and launch regardless of whether or not the costs stay within the budget or expand vastly beyond its limitations.
But is that a good thing?
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