NASA: New Mars Rover By 2020 79
coondoggie writes "Looking to build on the great success and popularity of its current Mars Science Laboratory mission, NASA today announced plans to explore the red planet further, including launching another sophisticated robot rover by 2020 and widely expanding other Mars scientific projects. The plan to design and build a new Mars robotic science rover — which will mirror the technology employed with the current Curiosity rover — will advance the science priorities of the National Research Council's 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey (the report from the community and team of scientists that help NASA prioritize space missions) and further the research needed to send humans to the planet sometime around 2030, NASA said."
Re:Launch is eight years away (Score:2, Funny)
According to NASA, the landing system used for Curiosity was still not enough like a Wile E Coyote cartoon. Apparently the new landing system will involve a giant slingshot, a red boxing glove on a spring, an anvil, and several sticks of dynamite. The landing itself will be referred to as the 'seven minutes of hilarity' and will end with a perfectly rover-shaped hole being cut into the martian surface.