Mars Master Plan: NASA Outlines New Approach
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 20 May 2005
06:38 am ET

As the Spirit and Opportunity rovers continue their extended studies of Mars, NASA's Mars program appears headed for change. The shift will be driven by a variety of factors including technical and budget issues, as well as a "rebalancing" of science objectives.

NASA has been engaged since last year in what the agency calls a road-mapping effort to flesh out the details of a Mars master plan that would lead to an expeditionary crew landing on that remote world.

One scenario that has been under active discussion is slipping the mission of the mobile, nuclear-powered Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) from 2009 to 2011. Another possibility was building two MSL rovers to double the data that could be gathered during that mission and reduce program risk.

The rest is here: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050520_mars_masterplan.html