BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: NASA has a new, down-to-earth strategy to reach Mars. CNN Miami bureau chief John Zarrella reports.</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): When it comes to the exploration of Mars, NASA's old approach -- faster, better, cheaper -- is out. NASA officials say they are prepared to embark on a new, unparalleled Mars campaign. No longer just a collection of preordained missions, the new program will allow engineers and scientists time to design missions based on the results of a previous trip.</s>ED WEILER, NASA DEPUTY DIRECTOR: We have to assume that Mars will continue to surprise us. We're launching an orbiter mission to Mars next spring. We're launching two rover missions to Mars in 2003. I have a feeling those missions may uncover something that we brilliant humans haven't thought of yet.</s>ZARRELLA: The new approach calls for spacing out Mars robotic lander missions, one every four years beginning with twin rovers scheduled for a 2003 liftoff. In 2007, NASA hopes to launch the first smart lander with a collision-avoidance system and a highly sophisticated rover. In-between the landers, orbiters will be sent to map Mars and gather data from above. The one real setback comes in NASA's bold plan for a mission to return samples of Mars back to earth. It won't fly now until 2011 at the earliest, a delay of more than six years. (on camera): The new Mars program is the result of a seven-month review that followed the recent failures of the Mars Polar Lander and the Climate Orbiter. In both instances, the old philosophy: cheaper, better, faster may have contributed to the mission disasters. John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
NASA's Future Missions to Mars Will be Designed Carefully