MARS ROVER HALL OF FAME

by Robert Lamb, HowStuffWorks.com

ExoMars

The Soviets crashed two rovers on Mars in 1971, and NASA is working on delivering their fourth rover to the Red Planet in 2011. However, nearly a decade into the 21st century, the idea of a two-competitor space race is a thing of the past. India and China have both set their ambitions on outer space and the European Space Agency (ESA) looks to spin its wheels in some Martian dust too.

As part of its Aurora Exploration Program, ESA plans to let loose its ExoMars rover with a fully autonomous navigation system and a host of exploratory instruments, including drilling apparatus to help search for buried signs of past life on the planet.

ESA plans to launch the mission in 2016, but ExoMars faces many of the budgetary and logistic hurdles that NASA's Curiosity is facing. ESA continually struggles to maintain its $1.18 billion price tag, which has led to some scaling back. A slated payload of weather- and quake-analyzing equipment has already wound up on the cutting room floor.

How will Earth's current Martian rovers continue to fare? What new arrivals will roll past them in the future? Only time will tell.

Image: Artist impression of the ExoMars rover. Credit: ESA

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