PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Just two months after metrics and management doomed the last mission to Mars, NASA is about attempt the trickier task of landing a probe on the Red Planet to search for water, study the climate and analyze the atmosphere. Much more than science is now riding on the Mars Polar Lander: It's become a test of NASA's ability to explore the solar system on a shoestring budget, a trial of the "faster, better, cheaper" way of doing more missions with less money. Polar Lander is headed for a Dec. 3 touchdown roughly 500 miles north of the planet's south pole, the first landing in the region. Scientists hope layers of dust and possibly ice will reveal secrets of Mars' climatic past during the 90-day mission.