Choosing a Landing Site on Mars
The map above is in reference to the estimated location of the “Mars Exploration Rover Spirit” within the the Gusev Crater. Locations for landings for the time of international planetary explorations are not hit-and-miss. They are time involved calculations that have a lot involved for the safety of many things considered. Since 1976, when we thought we would learn many answers from the Viking missions, we have found more and more questions to be answered. And we are slowly beginning to find out that the answers are not simply of academic self-interest or from a philosopher’s viewpoint. The fact is we may be sending human explorers to Mars within the next few years, if not sooner.
When choosing a landing site on Mars, especially for the Martian rovers, it can be a very tricky situation between landing in a safe manner and choosing a scientifically chosen area. Really, the only primary concern should be the safety of the spacecraft but also a primary concern are those with the most scientific interest. Right now, without human habitat on Mars to achieve these results, the only way to bring back available data sets is with correct technology and applications of both engineering and scientific constraints in order to select the most promising and suitable areas on Mars for the landing and research.
Thermal inertia is one of the main features used whether landings are questionable or unacceptable, used as a proxy for too much abundance of rock or not, and dust coverage. Any values that are shown as too low, indicates whether an area is too rocky for a safe landing and how dusty the conditions are. A high value indicates that the area is too high for a safe landing or for rover trafficability. Landing site error ellipses also constrain the target area, with the algorithm “walking” the suitable target areas. This will help determine if there is enough contiguous space to house the ellipse.
So, if anyone asks where to go to land on Mars, know that it can be a geologically or biologically attractive site. Yet on the other hand, how much money can be spent on a site that may prove itself. NASA is always weighing competing priorities on the Mars trips, due to the many budget cuts and Congress interventions. At this time, it is being planned for the Phoenix mission to launch in August of this year–hoping to land in May of 2008. The far north site for its landing was chosen because the Mars Odyssey orbiter has shown the availability of water ice in that area.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Mission History, Mission Objectives. 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.
