Curiosity Sister Rover Will Rocket Towards Mars in 2020, Prepare for Human Visitors in 2030's

In 2020, the Mars Curiosity Rover will welcome a twin into the world, according to a recent NASA press release.

Citing the Obama administration's budget provisions for the organization, NASA looks to retrofit Curiosity's design with new instruments for the newly announced mission. "With this next mission, we're ensuring America remains the world leader in the exploration of the Red Planet, while taking another significant step toward sending humans there in the 2030s," says NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Discovery News explains NASA's decision to build off of Curiosity's designs and instruments will save the program $1 billion.

Planetary Scientist Steve Squyres of Cornell University states, "This is potentially good news. The [science] community has already come forward with a very clear message about what the next Mars surface mission should be and that is to cache the samples that will come back to earth. That's really a necessary part of the mission."

NASA Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld adds, "This mission concept fits within the current and projected Mars exploration budget, builds on the exciting discoveries of Curiosity, and takes advantage of a favorable launch opportunity."

Curiosity's mission on Mars is leading it to Glenelg, an area at the base of Mount Sharp, a 3.4 mile-high mountain.

Jet Propulsion software engineer Benjamin Cichy told Venture Beat that NASA is "going to read the history book of that mountain -  each layer on that mountain is a chapter in the book of Mars.  We're going to learn about Mars by reading it from the oldest layer at the bottom, to the most recent layers at the top. That's what's next for this mission."