BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- NASA could decide as early as Friday whether to cancel, delay, scale down or proceed with plans to launch a nuclear-powered rover to Mars due to technical problems and cost overruns, according to media reports Wednesday.     

    NASA has already sunk 1.5 billion U.S. dollars into the Mars Science Laboratory(MSL). The souped-up Mars rover will roam the surface and drill into rocks to search for microbial life on the Red Planet.

    Doug McCuistion, who heads the Mars Exploration Program(MEP) at NASA headquarters, told scientists in recent public meetings that he expects the mission's total cost to run over by more than 30 percent -- the threshold where Congress would end the project.

    Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL) in California, the project has been plagued by development problems and ballooning costs.

    McCuistion told a gathering of Mars scientists last month that NASA was keeping a close eye on the project's progress and costs and participating in weekly reviews with JPL.

    Nearly the size of a SUV, MSL will be three times as heavy and twice the width of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) that landed in 2004, and will be able to travel twice as far. 

    It also carries some of the most sophisticated instruments, including a laser that can zap rocks from afar. It will carry ten advanced scientific instruments and cameras, and make the first precise landing and a predetermined site, using a guided entry system and a soft-landing system called the Sky Crane. But assembly and testing of critical components and instruments are behind schedule because of technical problems. 

    If NASA pushes to launch in 2009 as planned, it will have to find the money to get the rover ready. Any delay until 2010 or 2011 will add at least 300 million dollars to the mission's price tag.

    Officials from MEP and JPL will brief NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and Science Associate Administrator Ed Weiler this Friday and attempt to work out a potential solution.

    Alex Dery Snider, a spokeswoman for the House Science Committee, said members were concerned about the extra cost and want to know how NASA will solve the problem.     

    (Agencies)