The project team that built and operates the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity has become the first NASA space mission to use cloud computing for daily mission operations.

Various orbiters, landers and rovers that have explored Mars in the past three decades have revealed tantalizing evidence of the conditions for life, from frozen water at the planet’s North Pole to methane plumes in the atmosphere. These evidence has made the case for flying an airplane over Mars stronger than ever.

What will the Martian atmosphere be like when the next Mars rover descends through it for landing in August of 2012?

NASA is currently building a new rover, which i s schjeduled to be launched in 2011 and arrive in 2012. But how is it different from the current rovers, and why will it be able to succeed beyond the achievements of Opportunity and Spirit?