The U.S. space agency is planning to send a new orbiter to Mars as early as August 10 in order to learn more about whether there is or has been life on the planet and whether humans can land there, NASA officials said Thursday, according to dpa. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will also look for possible landing sites for humans and robots, according to Douglas McCuistion, NASA's director of the Mars Exploration Program. "We expect to use this spacecraft's eyes in the sky in coming years as our primary tool to identify and evaluate the best places for future missions to land," McCuistion said. The spacecraft's cameras are more advanced than those of its three predecessors and will be able to reveal rocks that are the size of an office desk. The orbiter will also continue NASA's search for water and life on Mars. Michael Meyer, NASA's Mars exploration chief scientist, said the previous three orbiters have made "dramatic discoveries" about "recent gullies, near-surface permafrost and ancient surface water".
