STUNG by two disastrous failed missions last year, NASA administrators
announced a new programme of Mars exploration last week that aims to proceed at
a more methodical and leisurely pace. But it means researchers will now have to
wait at least a dozen years before they get their hands on some real Martian
soil.
The space agency’s plans for 2005 and beyond include the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter in 2005 and a still unnamed lander in 2007. From then on, NASA will
settle into a pace of one Mars mission every 26 months and will alternate
orbiter and lander missions. Each…
