NASA will send second Mars rover in 2020, send humans in 2030s

A rendering of the ExoMars rover, in which NASA will play a reduced role.

NASA has announced plans for a second Mars rover to launch in 2020, but other sources suggest that NASA's new budget may cut joint Mars programs with Europe, according to the Associated Press. The sources also suggest that NASA will cut its exploration programs for other planets in part to fund the replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope, named the James Webb Telescope.

The current Mars budget is $581.7 million, but it's set to be cut by over $200 million, according to two scientists briefed on the matter who spoke to the AP. Mars exploration missions in 2016 and 2018 that were to be jointly conducted with European programs will be cut, said the scientists. According to the AP, the European Space Agency is speaking to Russia about filling the US’s vacancy in the programs, which would map sources of methane on Mars and drill into the ground for evidence of life.

In a press event at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, NASA associate administrator for science John Grunsfeld announced that the administration will in fact play roles in the two ESA missions. NASA will provide the UHF communications systems for the 2016 mission, and in 2018 will provide a molecular analyzer for the ExoMars rover. Grunsfeld confirmed that the Russian space agencies will constitute a “major partnership” in both ESA-led missions.