NASA’s next rover designed to explore the red planet, Curiosity could require additional $44 million in funds before too e ready or launch this fall.

An internal audit prepared by NASA Inspector General Paul Martin revealed that the Mars Science Laboratory might not be ready for the scheduled launch between Thanksgiving and Christmas f it does not receive additional funding.

“The project may have insufficient funds to complete all currently identified tasks prior to launch and may therefore be forced to reduce capabilities, delay the launch for 2 years, or cancel the mission,” he wrote.

If the space agency is not able to go ahead with the launch, it will have to spend additional $570 million to adjust mission plans to account for a new planetary alignment.

A Martian year is almost double the length of an Earth year and if the rover arrives on the red planet in its summer, it could face serious difficulties with the summer storms.

Curiosity is nuclear-powered unlike earlier launched Spirit and Opportunity, which were both solar-powered, and is this better equipped for this situation. However, dust storms could interrupt its sensitive instruments and also make it difficult for the rover to communicate with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Deep Space Network on Earth.

The whole cost for Curiosity is as much as $2.5 billion mainly because of its huge size. Curiosity is four times as heavy as Spirit and Opportunity, and it contains 10 sensitive science instruments designed for looking for traces of life on the red planet.