NASA’s Exploration Plan: “Follow the Water”
GEOLOGYGEOLOGY
LIFELIFE
CLIMATECLIMATE
Prepare for Human Exploration
Prepare for Human Exploration
When • Where • Form • Amount
WATER
NASA’s Strategy for Mars Exploration
Mars Global Surveyor (1997-2006)
Global topography (elevation)
discovery of recent water-carved gullies
First orbiter around Mars since Viking (mid-1970’s)
Recently lost after 10 years of successful operations.
Science Package
1997 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)
• Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA)– Global 500 m resolution grid with < 1 m
vertical resolution
• Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)– Few-meter resolution camera– more than 120,000 released images
• Thermal Emission Spectrometer– Near-Infrared broadband spectrometer
• rock, ice, and atmosphere compositions• thermal structure of the Martian surface
Pre-MGS Global Topography
MGS Topography
2011 Mars Science Laboratory
2011 MSL Key Goals
• Characterize a site that:
– was a habitable environment.• What does this mean?
– is likely to have preserved biosignatures.
– can be related to the “Big Picture”.
Let’s watch it now!
2009 Mars Science Laboratory
Keeping in Mind the Key MSL Goals…
• Characterize a site that:
– was a habitable environment.• What does this mean?
– is likely to have preserved biosignatures.
– can be related to the “Big Picture”.
VL1MPF
MER-B
VL2
MER-A
2007 Phoenix
Where would you land a $2.3B spacecraft?
But how can we assess the engineering and safety of the
landing sites??
GIS to the rescue!
Four Finalist Candidate Landing Sites
Eberswalde Crater (24°S, 327°E, -1.5 km) contains a clay-bearing delta formed when an ancient river deposited sediment, possibly into a lake.
Gale Crater (4.5°S, 137°E, -4.5 km) contains a 5-km sequence of layers that vary from clay-rich materials near the bottom to sulfates at higher elevation.
Mawrth Vallis (24°N, 341°E, -2.2 km) exposes layers within Mars’ surface with differing mineralogy, including at least two kinds of clays.
Holden Crater (26°S, 325°E, -1.9 km) has alluvial fans, flood deposits, possible lake beds, and clay-rich sediment.