The U.S. space agency has big plans for the Red
Planet. NASA has announced an ambitious multi-year Mars exploration program,
looking ahead to meeting President Barack Obama's challenge to send humans to
Mars in the 2030s.
NASA administrator Charles Bolden said the seven
missions, planned or already under way, will ensure America remains the world
leader in the exploration of our Earth-like neighbor. Next year, NASA will send
an orbiter to study the Martian upper atmosphere, and in later years, another
mission will take the first look into the planet's deep interior.
American space scientists also will work with the
European Space Agency's 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions. In addition, a new
rover is planned for launch in 2020, building on the successful design of
Curiosity.
The car-sized robotic vehicle Curiosity currently is
traversing the Martian landscape, digging through the Martian soil for any
evidence there may have been life on that planet, and is four months into its
two-and-a-half-year mission. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been
working on Mars since January 2004.
The planned new rover would be a new addition to
NASA's ambitious program of exploring the Martian surface and atmosphere, ahead
of its goal to send a manned mission to the Red Planet in about 20 years.
Sources :
http://www.voanews.com/content/nasa_announces_new_plans_for_mars_exploration/1559328.html
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