Mars deadline forces NASA to cut mission features

by Stevie Smith - Nov 24 2008, 16:30

NASA dumps contested rock carrier from the Mars Science Laboratory. Image. NASA.

Already beset by recent project delays, budget constraints, and technical speed bumps, U.S. space administration NASA this week announced a reduction to the amount of hardware the next-generation Mars rover vehicle will carry during its upcoming mission.

Implemented in order to help engineers meet the October 2009 launch deadline currently attached to the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), NASA has opted to drop an on-board tool designed to collect and store rock fragments for future study purposes.

According to an AP report, NASA delivered official notification of the hardware edit to mission managers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory along with an accompanying explanation outlining that the debris container carried a “low science value.”

Apart from cutting down significantly on the cost price associated with the Mars Science Laboratory's creation, the device's removal also means mission engineers will be able to concentrate on other components and trim valuable time from overall development thanks to not having to put the device through extensive testing.

Equal in size to an SUV, NASA's ambitious MSL has cost more than $1.5 billion USD and is expected to gather rock and soil analysis in more detail than any other Mars rover before it. The vehicle will be tasked with studying the Red Planet's early history with a view to discovering whether it was capable of supporting life at that time.

The decision to drop the storage unit will likely come as good news for those who opposed its inclusion on the grounds that rock samples would potentially degrade over time and there were no guarantees a future Mars mission would rendezvous with the rover to continue studying its waiting samples.

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Mars deadline forces NASA to cut mission features

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