Nasa announces plans to launch astronauts into mars'' orbit by 2030s

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will launch a second Mars rover in 2020 and plans to put astronauts in Mars' orbit by 2030s, the US space agency confirmed late Tuesday. NASA plans to continue working with the European Space Administration (ESA), eventually leading to the launch of astronauts close to Mars in the next twenty years. In a press event at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, NASA associate administrator for science John Grunsfeld said the NASA scientists will begin to work on the 2020 mission imminently. It will be led by the same team that worked on the Curiosity rover wandering Mars. He noted that the spare rover parts designed for the Curiosity mission would become "prime for the 2020 mission." Looking beyond the next decade, Grunsfeld stated support for President Barack Obama's desire to send humans to Mars. NASA stated that "the 2020 mission will constitute another step toward being responsive to high-priority science goals and the president's challenge of sending humans to Mars orbit in the 2030s."