Archive for Friday, December 5, 2008
NASA delays Mars mission to 2011
December 5, 2008
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Washington, D.C. — NASA is delaying a mission to Mars that already had been over budget and will get even more costly.
The launch of the massive roving robot with a rock-zapping laser was pushed back Thursday from next year until 2011, adding $400 million to the price tag. More than 10 different problems, all solvable with time, forced the postponement, Mars exploration chief Doug McCuistion said.
The six-wheeled Mars Science Laboratory is designed as the most powerful spacecraft to explore the Martian surface. About the size of a small sport utility vehicle, it will probe the red planet’s climate and geology in finer detail than previous missions.
The project has been dogged by cost increases and technical challenges. Just two years ago the lab was supposed to cost $1.6 billion; the launch delay inflates the total price to nearly $2.3 billion.
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5 December 2008
at 9:34 a.m.
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gr (Anonymous) says…
Pennies!How about a bailout.