Assessment of Mars Science and Mission Priorities (2003) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix A: The NASA Mars Exploration Program
Appendix A: The NASA Mars Exploration Program
Pages 107-117
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Appendixes
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From page 109... ...
Garvin, lead scientist, of the Mars Exploration Program, Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, enlarges upon details of the missions and the overall strategy of the program. It should be stressed that the presence of an integrated Mars program at NASA, as opposed to a series of isolated missions to Mars, is a relatively new development.
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From page 110... ...
NASA Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spectrometer Microscopic Camera Mossbauer Spectrometer Alpha Particle-X-Ray Spectrometer Low Frequency Plasma Wave Analyzer Ion Mass Imager Magnetic Field Investigation Probes for Electron Temperature Measurements Ultraviolet Imaging Photometer Electron Spectrum Analyzer Energetic Ion Spectrometer Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer Mars Radiation Environment Experiment Thermal Emission Imaging System Gamma Ray Spectrometer Panoramic Camera Miniature Thermal Infrared High Resolution Stereo Color Imager IR Mineralogical Mapping Spectrometer Planetary Fourier Spectrometer UV and IR Atmospheric Spectrometer Energetic Neutral Atoms Analyzer Subsurface Sounding Radar/Altimeter Radio Science Experiment Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer Microscope Camera Panoramic and Wide Angle Cameras Mossbauer Spectrometer Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer Environmental Package Sensors NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
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2007 NASA Mars Scout 2007 2009 2011 Telecommunication relay Some of these experiments: Surface Meteorology Package Electric Field Ground Penetrating Radar Magnetometer NetLander Ionosphere and Geodesy Experiment (plus Total Electron Content) Panoramic Camera Seismometer Soil Properties, Thermal Inertia and Cohesion Experiment Mars Microphone (To be determined)
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From page 112... ...
This white paper outlines in a high-level sense the scientific strategy of the new Mars Exploration Program. As the MEP will continuously evolve in the context of the scientific discoveries achieved and the changing character of the scientific drivers provided by the broad scientific community to NASA, it is important to recognize that the present strategy is a living one.
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From page 113... ...
We must seek the most promising places on the surface of Mars to continue intensive local reconnaissance in the context of a global picture of Mars. Thus, the first step in our Mars exploration strategy is to acquire adequate global reconnaissance using orbital remote sensing tools that not only define Mars in a global context but also tell us where to look in our refined search for localized "hot spots" places where the action of liquid water and possibly temperature have provided "fingerprints" that we can identify from orbit.
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From page 114... ...
The MRO will use its new observational tools, some of which could resolve beachball-sized objects and their mineralogies, to search for clues within the martian landscape of telltale layers and materials associated with the action of liquid water. Recent evidence suggests that water-related mineral indicators may be detectable from orbit at certain specific infrared wavelengths provided high enough spatial resolution is adopted.
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From page 115... ...
It will serve as both a scientific and technological pathfinder for the robotic sample return campaign that forms the ultimate step in our Mars Exploration Program. This phase of in situ analysis will incorporate technological advances that permit mobile surface laboratories to be landed within a few kilometers or less of any interesting spot on Mars.
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From page 116... ...
The specific scientific scope of the first MSR mission remains in the hands of science definition teams, but the intent is to build upon the technologies utilized in 2007 for the mart mobile surface laboratory to selectively screen samples at a surface site selected to provide the best sedimentary record of water-related materials indicative of perhaps hospitable paleo-environments. Given the material diversity of Mars and the challenges presented by sampling one scientifically-compelling locality to provide definitive answers to the driving scientific questions about Mars, it is unlikely that a single MSR mission to a sedimentary site will fulfill the scientific requirements and needs.
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From page 117... ...
NASA has fashioned a strategy that is risk attentive, including a natural responsivity to science challenges that will emerge as discoveries are made. It is linked to our experience exploring the deep ocean here on Earth, as well as part of a strategy that uses Mars as a natural laboratory for understanding life and climate on Earth-like planets other than our own.
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