The launch of NASA’s SUV-size, next-generation Mars rover has been delayed two years because of continuing technical problems and cost overruns, the space agency announced Thursday.
Originally set to launch late next year, the mission now is scheduled to take place in 2011, officials said at a news briefing at National Aeronautics and Space Administration headquarters in Washington.
“We ran out of time,” said Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, Calif., where the rover is being built.
The new rover, known as the Mars Science Laboratory, is one of the most challenging projects NASA has ever undertaken. The craft will carry an instrument payload 10 times heavier than the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on Mars in 2004.
With a 43-inch-high deck, MSL will be able to drive over obstacles that deterred earlier generations of rovers.
The mission is designed to explore the planet’s habitability, both now and in the ancient past. Problems developed in the design and operation of 31 actuators — combination motors and gearboxes that control the mechanical parts of the craft.
For a time, Elachi said, JPL engineers hoped they could solve the problems and still make the 2009 launch date. But mission managers finally decided they couldn’t take a chance with a venture as complex and costly as MSL.
“We want to avoid a mad dash to launch,” said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
Missions to Mars can launch only when the two planets are in proper alignment, which happens every two years. The delay will increase the cost of the mission by about $400 million, from about $1.9 billion to almost $2.3 billion.
Also Thursday, NASA announced it has set May 12 for its space shuttle mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope for a final time. The shuttle Atlantis would be used for the 11-day repair and upgrade mission to the $10 billion space telescope.
