NASA to decide on nuclear-powered rover Mars mission

BEIJING, Oct.8 (Xinhuanet) -- NASA could decide
as early as Friday whether to cancel, delay, scale down or proceed with plans
to launch a nuclear-powered rover to Mars due to technical problems and cost
overruns, according to media reports Wednesday.

NASA has already sunk 1.5 billion U.S. dollars into the
Mars Science Laboratory(MSL). The souped-up Mars roverwill roam the
surface and drill into rocks to search for microbial life on the Red Planet.

Doug McCuistion,
who heads the Mars Exploration Program(MEP) at NASA headquarters, told
scientists in recent public meetings that he expects the mission's total cost to run over by
more than 30 percent -- thethresholdwhereCongress would end the project.

Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory(JPL) in California, the project has been plagued by development
problems and ballooning costs.

McCuistion told a gathering of Mars
scientists last month that NASA was keeping a close eye on the project's
progress and costs and participating in weekly reviews with JPL.

Nearly the size of
a SUV, MSL will be three times as heavy and twice
the width of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) that landed in 2004, and
will be able to travel twice as far.

It also carries some of the most sophisticated
instruments, including a laser that can zap rocks from afar.It will carry
ten advanced scientific instruments and cameras, andmake the first precise
landing and a predetermined site, using a guided entry system and a soft-landing
system called the Sky Crane. But assembly and testing of critical components and
instruments are behind schedule because of technical problems.

If NASA pushes to launch in 2009 as planned, it will have
to find the money to get the rover ready. Any delay until 2010 or 2011 will add
at least 300 million dollars to the mission's price
tag.

Officials from MEP and JPL will brief NASA
Administrator Mike Griffin and Science Associate Administrator Ed Weiler this
Friday and attempt to work out a potential solution.

Alex Dery Snider, a spokeswoman for the House Science
Committee, said members were concerned about the extra cost and want to know how
NASA will solve the problem.

(Agencies)