NASA’s Mars rover project is over budget and behind schedule. I’m a lover of space exploration, but we’ve got to see more private industry involvement and innovation, and less government involvement and spending. From USA Today:
The mobile Mars Science Laboratory is intended to be the most sophisticated rover sent to the Martian surface. From the outset, the mission managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been plagued by development woes that have put it behind schedule and driven up costs. The total cost of the mission has ballooned to $2.5 billion from $1.6 billion.
NASA’s inspector general faulted project managers for routinely underestimating costs and calculated that an extra $44 million to the development budget may be needed to avoid another delay or cancellation.
