The vehicle will be based on its Curiosity robot, which landed on the Red Planet in August. 

 

Nasa expects to re-use many of the technologies that worked so successfully in getting the one-tonne spacecraft down into the huge equatorial（赤道的） bowl known as Gale Crater. 

 

This included a rocket-powered crane that lowered Curiosity to the surface on nylon cords.

 

The announcement of a follow-up robot was made here at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, the world's largest annual gathering³ for Earth and planetary scientists, and a major showcase for Nasa-led research.

 

It was communicated by the agency's associate administrator⁴ for science, John Grunsfeld.

 

"The new rover's going to be based on the [Curiosity] chassis⁵, and it's really building on the tremendous success of the engineering of Curiosity," he said.

 

"It will have new instruments. We're going to put out a letter to colleagues to ask for folks who want to be in the science definition team. And the idea is to work through the winter and spring, and have an announcement of opportunity [in] mid-summer for actual instruments, because while 2020 might seem a long way off, it's really not. Curiosity was about a decade in the works."

 

Nasa's budget for planetary science, and Mars research in particular, has been squeezed of late, forcing the Americans to pull back on their commitments to two European Red Planet ventures in 2016 and 2018. But Mr Grunsfeld said there was scope in the financial outlook for a major mission at the end of the decade.

 

Critical to its affordability⁶ will be the intention to re-use the Curiosity template.

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