NASA's Bold Plan to Reach Mars in Record Time.

NASA is considering launching a series of lower-cost, sustainable missions to Mars once every two years, instead of developing expensive rovers for the Red Planet. The space agency's Director of the Mars Exploration Program, Eric Ianson, unveiled the long-term strategy for exploring Mars, titled "Exploring Mars Together," which proposes low-cost missions between $100 million to $300 million each. NASA's focus is on its Moon to Mars objectives, including the use of NASA's Space Launch System rocket for deep space exploration. The agency is no longer interested in developing increasingly complex robots for the Red Planet, except for the Mars Sample Return mission, which is a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency.