How do you follow a flat-out success like the Mars Exploration Rovers, still cruising Mars after all these months? By thinking “bigger and better.” The Mars Science Laboratory, currently scheduled for launch in 2009, will land a rover three times as massive as Spirit or Opportunity and with ten scientific instruments, among them some never before flown in space. MSL will assess the habitat potential of its landing site, providing a bridge between MER and later direct searches for life on Mars.