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"On the heels of Curiosity rover's success, NASA announced today that it's planning a multi-year program that will solidify the United States as a leader in Mars exploration. \nThe program includes a new robotic science rover that is set to launch in 2020. It will be another significant step toward sending humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s, according to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.\nMars Science Laboratory will use the same framework as Curiosity for the next rover's development and design. The agency says this will help keep costs and risks low. The mission fits within the five-year budget plan in the president's Fiscal Year 2013 budget request and is contingent on future appropriations.\nJust a few months into the two-year mission, Curiosity has already made significant discoveries \u2014 like finding an ancient streambed where water once flowed. More recently, it determined that astronauts could survive Mars radiation levels.\n\nSEE ALSO: NASA Reveals Curiosity Rover Martian Soil Findings\nNASA now has a total of seven Mars missions in the works. Shortly after the Curiosity rover landing in August, the agency announced plans for a 2016 program called InSight, a Discovery-class mission that will look into the deep interior of the Red Planet by drilling underneath Martian topsoil. \nBONUS: Curiosity Rover's Latest Soil Samples in Photos\n\n\nMars Curiosity Rover Analyzes First Soil Samples\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nScoop Marks in Rocknest Sand\nThe Curiosity rover took soil samples from an area called \"Rocknest.\" The team chose this area because it lies in a flat part of the Gale Crater. This specific sample came from a drift of windblown dust. This particular photo shows the third (left) and fourth (right) scoops, each 1.6-inches wide.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nClose-up View of the Windblown Sand From Rocknest\nThe Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) took these super-close views of Curiosity's sample in order to document the nature of the material. The rover delivered this material to her onboard Chemistry and Mineralogy Experiment (CheMin) and the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCuriosity's Workplace\nLast month, the Curiosity rover snapped this self-portrait white working in the Rocknest Wind Drift on the 84th Martian day (or sol). The rover worked at this location from Sol 56 (Oct. 2, 2012) to Sol 100 (Nov. 16, 2012). Curiosity's team selected Rocknest as the first scooping site because it has fine sand particles suited for scrubbing interior surfaces of the arm's sample-handling chambers.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMap of Curiosity's Journey on Mars, August-November, 2012\nSince her landing in August, Curiosity has driven a total of 1,703 feet.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSample Platter of Martian Soil\nThere are several different types of soils that make up the Red Planet's landscape. Curiosity isn't the first rover to investigate the signature reddish elemental composition. NASA's Viking, Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rover missions also surveyed these soils.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/12/04/nasa-mars-rover-2020/>