Most of us know about Zeno Paradox: If you want to walk out a door but only walk half the distance, then half the distance again, then half the distance again, and so forth, you'll never reach the door. Mars Science Laboratory started out as Mars-2005, then became Mars-2007 then became Mars-2009 then became Mars Smart Lander (MSL) then became Mars Science Lander (MSL - again) and is becoming Mars-2011. There will be human colonies on Mars before MSL gets launched.

dtb said it in an earlier post:

"we have a rover design that seems to work pretty darn well -- why not send another MER for a 2009 mission? That seems like an obvious idea to many people here, but reading that document you get the sense it didn't even ocurr to them."

This is the obvious solution. Forget about MSL and send several MERs stacked on a single Atlas-V to Mars. In a decade/century or two they'll get MSL sorted out. In the meantime we can learn more about Mars from the MER clones.

Gary