Nature:
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is due to blast off in late
2011, two years later than originally planned. But so are
several other missions that will require the use of an Atlas V
rocket and the launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida.Squeezing
MSL into the schedule could require buying a more powerful
rocket, reworking the lander's heat shield for faster entry
speeds, and hiring more workers to cut the time between
launches. All this could add US$50 million to the cost of a
mission whose budget hasalready risen from $1.6 billion to more
than $2.2 billion.
