|
 August 10, 2000
-- The traffic on Mars is expected to double in the near future.
NASA today announced plans to
launch two large scientific rovers to the red planet in 2003,
rather than the original plan for just one, said Dr. Ed Weiler,
Associate Administrator for Space Science, NASA Headquarters,
Washington, D.C.
Both Mars rovers, to be built, managed and operated by NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., currently are planned
for launch on Delta II rockets from Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station, Fla. The first mission is targeted for May 22, with
the second launch slated for June 4. After a seven-and-a- half
month cruise, the first rover should enter Mars' atmosphere January
2, 2004, with the second rover bouncing to a stop on the Martian
surface January 20.
Above: This image is a single frame from a striking
new
video of the planned Mars 2003 rover mission. [more
information from NASA headquarters]
The rovers will be exact duplicates, but that's where the similarities
end. Relatives of the highly successful 1997 Sojourner
rover, these 150-kilogram (300-pound) mobile laboratories
may look and act alike, but they're going to decidedly different
locations.
"For the first time, science and technology have
given us the capability to explore alien planets in ways that
used to exist only in science fiction movies," said Weiler.
"To have two rovers driving over dramatically different
regions of Mars at the same time, to be able to drive over and
see what's on the other side of the hill -- it's an incredibly
exciting idea." Weiler added, "I think everyone on
Earth who has ever dreamed of being an explorer on an alien planet
will want to go along for the ride as we explore the surface
of Mars."
Scott Hubbard, Mars program director at NASA Headquarters said,
"For the past few weeks NASA has been undertaking an extensive
study of a two-lander option. Hubbard added, "The scientific
appeal of using the excellent launch opportunity in 2003 for
two missions was weighed carefully against the resource requirements
and schedule constraints."
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"Our teams concluded that we can successfully develop
and launch these identical packages to the red planet,"
continued Hubbard. "We also determined that, in addition
to the prospect of doubling our scientific return, this two-pronged
approach adds resiliency and robustness to our exploration program."
"Mars is a beguiling place, and conducting a real mobile
field-geology mission is always better when there are multiple
perspectives," said Dr. Jim Garvin, Mars program scientist
at NASA Headquarters. However, the landing sites have yet to
be selected. "We are thinking about localities where there
is evidence of surface processes involving what we might call
'past' water on Mars," Garvin said.
 "This
includes sites where we have today mineralogical evidence that
water may have produced unique chemical fingerprints, as well
as places where it seems likely water 'ponded' in closed depressions
for enough time to modify the regional geology," Garvin
added.
During the next two to three years, engineers and scientists
will conduct an intensive search for potential touchdown sites.
Using the flood of data still coming in from Mars Global Surveyor,
and that expected starting in 2002 from the Mars 2001 Orbiter,
scientists will search for compelling landing zones with the
fewest hazards and select the best candidates.
Above: This artist's rendering shows a view of NASA's
Mars 2003 Rover as it sets off to roam the surface of the red
planet. The rover is scheduled for launch in June 2003 and will
arrive in January 2004, shielded in its landing by an airbag
shell. The airbag/lander structure, which has no scientific instruments
of its own, is shown to the right in this image, behind the rover.
[more
information]
"The goal of both rovers will be to learn about ancient
water and climate on Mars," said Professor Steven Squyres,
Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and principal investigator
for the rovers' Athena science package. "You can think of
each rover as a robotic field geologist, equipped to read the
geologic record at its landing site and to learn what the conditions
were like back when the rocks and soils there were formed."
|
Parents and Educators: Please visit
Thursday's
Classroom for lesson plans and activities related to this
story. |
Given the high priority NASA and the administration assign
to the space science program overall, and to the timely exploration
of Mars, the agency proposes that space science cover any additional
costs of the first rover mission, and that the bulk of the cost
for the second lander be reallocated from programs outside Space
Science.
The Mars 2003 Rover project will be managed at JPL, for the
Office of Space Science. Dr. Firouz Naderi is the Mars Program
Manager at JPL, which is a division of the California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena. |
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