Chennai: After the success of Mars orbiter rover 'Curiosity', NASA would send another rover to the red planet by 2020 to explore "biosignatures" on Mars, a top scientist of the American space agency said here today.
"Yes. By 2020, we will send another rover which has similar architecture (of Curiosity) with new instruments that are geared more towards looking for biosignatures (on Mars)," Lead Scientist of NASA's MARS Exploration Programme Michael Meyer told PTI here.
Asked what would happen to Curiosity, he said, "Curiosity will keep going. In fact, this month, the rover is celebrating its 10th anniversary. It is still going. It is still doing good science. By 2020, Curiosity will also be there".
On India's maiden Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) launched by Indian space agency ISRO, Meyer said it would be "fantastic" for science and for India.
"It is a fantastic mission for India. It is working so well and I am very hopeful that the mission will be great for science. I also think it will be great for India," he said.
Launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre of Sriharikota on December 4, MOM has escaped the Earth's sphere of influence and is now on course to reach Mars after a journey of about 300 days.
