Nasa doubles Mars traffic 美將發射兩枚探測器登陸火星

An artist's impression of what the new rovers will look like

想象中的新的漫游者的樣子

The American space agency, Nasa, has announced that it is planning to send two unmanned probes - rather than just one - to Mars.

Nasa spokesman Dr Edward Weiler said the two robot vehicles would be sent to different locations on the planet surface to broaden the mission's scope.

The probes are due to be launched in 2003, two weeks apart, and should land early the following year to begin their task.

"To have two rovers driving over dramatically different regions of Mars at the same time, to be able to drive over and see what's on the other side of the hill - it's an incredibly exciting idea," said Dr Weiler.

Doubling the number of Nasa probes is believed to be adding about $150m on to the $350m price tag of a single mission, excluding launch and operations.

美國航空和宇宙航天局(NASA)宣布它計劃發射兩個無人探測器登上火星，而不是一個。

NASA發言人愛德華-威勒博士說這兩個機器人探測器將被送往火星表面的不同位置，以拓寬這次探測的范圍。

這兩枚探測器預計2003年隔兩星期先后被送入太空，第二年早些時候登陸并開始工作。

威勒博士說，“兩個漫游者同時在不同的區域神奇地移動，這樣就可以看到山的另一邊的情況－這真是個令人難以置信的好主意。”

將探測器由一個變成兩個，將需要在原來的3.5億美元標價的基礎上追加1.5億美元，其中不包括發射和運行費用。