[avid]

Whata pity. Spirit and Opportunity are half dead already and now this.

[Soothesayer]

They better hurry it up. We’ll need to move to Mars asap after the libs and muzzies finish destroying the world.

[Names Ash Housewares]

Dissappointing, but understandable.
Could be the difference between a successful mission or failure.

We have grown very spoiled lately with science from Mars.

[SunkenCiv]

Jim Bell, the President of The Planetary Society and a Cornell University professor and planetary scientist, stated that "The decision to delay the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory to 2011 is a tough call for NASA and JPL, but it seems to be the right call given the unanticipated technical difficulties that mission designers and engineers have encountered in trying to meet the original 2009 launch schedule. Despite the disappointment of a delay, The Planetary Society agrees that it is better to solve any problems and thoroughly test MSL before launching the mission. Ultimately, what's most important is that MSL, one of the most exciting science exploration adventures of the upcoming decade, succeeds."

[SunkenCiv]

pluto mission

Google

similar delays for the New Horizons mission, largely for political and budgetary reasons -- and the timing was critical, because the atmosphere is going to refreeze and stay that way for centuries.

[Question_Assumptions]

Radioactive power source. I guess they decided that dust on the solar panels was the Achilles’ heel of Spirit and Opportunity or maybe this one has power requirements larger than the solar panels could handle?