Mars Exploration Program various components of the EDL systems on Earth-based testing. However, the costs of reproducing environments in which this data would be relevant in terms of Mars' environment are considerably high, resulting in testing being purely ground-based or simulating results of tests involving technologies derived from past missions. InSight, launched from Earth May 5, 2018, the lander touched down on Mars November 26, 2018 on Elysium Planitia. Mars exploration missions, as do most NASA missions, can be fairly costly. For example, NASA's "Curiosity" rover (landed on Mars in Aug 2012) has a budget exceeding $2.5 billion. NASA also has goals of
Rover (space exploration) Agency (ESA) is currently designing and carrying out early prototyping and testing of the ExoMars rover. , the rover is scheduled for launch in 2020. The Mars 2020 rover mission is a Mars rover under development by NASA with a launch planned for 2020. It is intended to investigate an astrobiologically relevant ancient environment on Mars, investigate its surface geological processes and history, including the assessment of its past habitability and potential for preservation of biosignatures within accessible geological materials. Rover (space exploration) A rover (or sometimes planetary rover) is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface