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Space Studies Board Annual Report 2006 (2007) / Chapter Skim
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5.2 Assessment of NASA's Mars Architecture 2007–2016
Pages 46-47

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From page 46...
... and is basically consistent with NASA's plans as exemplified by the agency's 2006 strategic plan1 and the Vision for Space Exploration.2 However, the absence of a sample return mission and a geophysical/meteorological network mission runs counter to the recommendations of the SSE decadal survey and significantly reduces the architecture's scientific impact. Other topics of concern include the lack of well-defined mission parameters and scientific objectives for the Mars Science and Telecommunications Orbiter, Astrobiology Field Laboratory, and Mid Rover missions; issues relating to the phasing and responsiveness of these missions to the results obtained from past missions; and the incompletely articulated links between these missions and the priorities enunciated by the SSE decadal survey and MEPAG.
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From page 47...
... The committee finds that in the context of the basic types of missions, the Mars architecture is a reasonably well balanced one: both landed and orbital missions are included in an appropriate mix, given the current state of Mars exploration. To the extent that the specific science objectives of the proposed missions are defined, one of the three crosscutting themes for the exploration of Mars identified in the SSE decadal survey is largely neglected, as are very high priority topics related to understanding near-surface and boundary-layer atmospheric sciences, and so, in this respect, balance is sorely lacking.
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Key Terms

  • decadal survey
  • mars exploration
  • mars science
  • exploration program
  • astrobiology field

  • sse decadal
  • proposed mars
  • revised mars
  • science laboratory
  • telecommunications orbiter

  • related science
  • architecture reflective
  • sample return
  • exploration decadal
  • return mission

  • architecture addresses
  • science strategies
  • field laboratory
  • nasa plans
  • mars identified

  • mars scouts
  • mars sample
  • consider delaying
  • architecture address
  • specific science

  • technology definition
  • establish science
  • incompletely articulated
  • architecture lacks
  • network mission


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