NASA delays Mars mission until 2011

Technical glitches have forced US space agency NASA to delay the launch of a landmark mission to Mars, which was due to lift off in the autumn of next year, officials said Thursday.

"We will not be ready to launch Mars Science Lab by the hoped-for date next year," NASA administrator Michael Griffin told a news conference.

"Because of a number of factors that need to be addressed, we are slipping the launch to 2011," he said.

The delay from the scheduled launch will add around 400 million dollars to the already over-budget Mars Science Lab project, which aims to assess whether microbial life ever existed on the red planet and still exists now.

With the delay factored in, the life-cycle cost of Mars Science Lab will rise to some 2.3 billion dollars, NASA estimated.

But the delay was essential because it will allow for "resolution of any remaining technical problems, proper and thorough testing, and to avoid a mad dash to launch," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's science mission directorate.

"Failure is not an option on this mission. The science is too important and the investment of American taxpayer dollars compels us to be absolutely certain that we have done everything possible to ensure the success of this flagship planetary mission," he said.

The main reason for putting back the launch date was unresolved problems with actuator motors on the rover, which NASA says will carry the most advanced suite of instruments for scientific studies ever sent to the surface of Mars.

The actuators are "very complicated devices that drive the wheels of rovers, and are the elbow, shoulder and wrist joints for the robotic arm," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA headquarters.

"The actuator is a combination of a motor and a gearbox that drive the robotic arm. Actuators are absolutely crucial to any landed mission because if we get on the ground, can't move, can't get the arm out, can't take samples, we basically have a metric ton of junk on the surface," he said.

The Mars Science Lab rover has 31 different actuators. NASA is building 60 flight actuators and 45 engineering model actuators for the mission.

Only one has been finished, meaning NASA has not been able to test the motors.

Problems with the actuators have included faulty workmanship and a problem with the braking system, which McCuistion admitted "we don't understand yet."

Launches opportunities for Mars only come every 26 months because of the alignment of the planets, the NASA officials said.

The window for launching Mars Science Lab in 2011 extends from October to December of that year.