The Haughton-Mars Project
In a little over three months, the Haughton-Mars Project will once again embark on a new venture to better prepare for and understand the evolution of Mars. An international interdisciplinary field research project, it is centered on the scientific study of the Haughton impact structure and surround terrain, Devon Island, High Arctic, as a terrestrial analog for Mars.
Offering insight into the possible evolution of Mars, HMP supports an Exploration program that is managed by the Mars Institute and the SETI Institute, with HMP-2008 the 12th field season for a terrestrial analog for Mars settings on Earth, indoors and outdoors, in that certain specified conditions, geologic features, attributes that are biological in nature, or any combination of them, off learning experiences for comparisons or partial simulations of possible counterparts on Mars.
Originating in 1996, the National Research Council (NRC) of the United States National Academy of Sciences and NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) had approved a postdoctoral research proposal by a graduate student, Pascal Lee, of the Cornell University. This proposal was in regard to studying the Haughton Crater site as a potential Mars analog, where “Mars analogs” are not equated to any counterpart on Mars, but instead are viewed as opportunities on Earth for possible approximations. In 2001, SETI took over the project management of the HMP project.
The first major research project began in 1998, with twenty-four team members from NASA ARC, JSC< KSC, and several research, along with several research institutions and universities in the United States and Canada, with its first grant from the National Geographic Society. The goal was to participate in Science fields—geology, biology, remote-sensing—and Exploration Research—ground-penetrating radar surveys, field spectrometry, stereo camera tests, permafrost drilling, robotic helicopter tests, and human exploration metrics.
~ Locate the Current Haughton-Mars Project with Google ~
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 1:40 am and is filed under Mission Objectives, Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
