Curiosity spent six weeks at a dune called Rocknest studying the soil blown about inside Gale Crater
The US space agency (Nasa) says it will launch a new rover to Mars in 2020.
The vehicle will be based on its Curiosity robot, which landed on the Red Planet in August. Nasa expects to re-use many of the technologies that worked so successfully in getting the one-tonne spacecraft down into the huge equatorial bowl known as Gale Crater.
This included a rocket-powered crane that lowered Curiosity to the surface on nylon cords.
The announcement of a follow-up robot was made at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, the world's largest annual gathering for Earth and planetary scientists, and a major showcase for Nasa-led research.
It was communicated by the agency's science administrator, John Grunsfeld.
Hovering 'skycrane' Nasa's budget for planetary science, and Mars research in particular, has been squeezed of late, forcing the Americans to pull back on their commitments to two European Red Planet ventures in 2016 and 2018.
But Mr Grunsfeld said there was scope in the financial outlook for a major mission at the end of the decade.
Critical to its affordability was the desire to re-use the Curiosity template.
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Curiosity - Mars Science Laboratory
- Mission goal is to determine whether Mars has ever had the conditions to support life
- Project costed at $2.5bn; will see initial surface operations lasting two Earth years
- Onboard plutonium generators will deliver heat and electricity for at least 14 years
- 75kg science payload more than 10 times as massive as those of earlier US Mars rovers
- Equipped with tools to brush and drill into rocks, to scoop up, sort and sieve samples
- Variety of analytical techniques to discern chemistry in rocks, soil and atmosphere
- Will try to make first definitive identification of organic (carbon rich) compounds
- Even carries a laser to zap rocks; beam will identify atomic elements in rocks
The 2020 rover would share many
aspects of its design with the current robot, most notably its novel
entry, descent and landing (EDL) mechanism.
This included a hovering "skycrane" that was able to put Curiosity down with pin-point accuracy in Gale Crater.However, although the engineering will look very similar, the instruments carried by the future vehicle will likely look quite different.
Mr Grunsfeld said an announcement of opportunity would go out to the scientific community very soon to request ideas.
Curiosity landed on Mars on 6 August. It is investigating Gale for signs that past environments could have supported microbial life in the distant past.
Its major discovery so far is the realisation that it touched down in an ancient river-bed system where water once flowed perhaps waist deep.
The vehicle is equipped with a plutonium battery giving it ample energy supplies.
The expectation is that it will still be operating when its near-copy arrives in eight years' time.
Mr Grunsfeld said he would also be extending Curiosity's budget beyond the current initial two-year period to five years.
- (A) Curiosity will trundle around its landing site looking for interesting rock features to study. Its top speed is about 4cm/s
- (B) This mission has 17 cameras. They will identify particular targets, and a laser will zap those rocks to probe their chemistry
- (C) If the signal is significant, Curiosity will swing over instruments on its arm for close-up investigation. These include a microscope
- (D) Samples drilled from rock, or scooped from the soil, can be delivered to two hi-tech analysis labs inside the rover body
- (E) The results are sent to Earth through antennas on the rover deck. Return commands tell the rover where it should drive next
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