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The performance of this artist represents NASA's March 2020 rover studying a rocky outcrop of Mars. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Hundreds of Mars scientists and exploration enthusiasts will gather in a ballroom located north of Los Angeles later this week to present, discuss and deliberate on the future landing site of the upcoming Red Planet rover. of NASA – March 2020. This three-day workshop is the fourth and finally a series designed to ensure that NASA receives the widest range of data and opinions from the scientific community before the agency decides where send the new rover.
The mission Mars 2020 has the mission not only to look for signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the past, but also to look for signs of past microbial life. The Mars 2020 landing site is of great interest to the global community because, among the new scientific equipment of the rover for surface exploration, it includes a sampling system that will collect samples of rock and soil and will place them in a "cache" the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. The next landing on Mars, after March 2020, could very well be a vehicle for recovering these samples from March 2020.
"The Mars 2020 landing site could pave the way for Mars exploration for the next decade," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate director of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. . "I look forward to the lively debate and critical contributions from the scientific and technical community, regardless of the chosen landing site, it will contain the very first batch of Mars soil touched by humans."
The workshop begins with an opening keynote address by NASA's senior scientist for the Mars Exploration Program, Michael Meyer. Once the status of the project, technical constraints and site evaluation criteria are addressed during presentations. Reasonable Warning: Expect a lot of technical jargon in terms such as biosignatures, geochemical conditions, impact deformation, biogenetic potential, olivine lithologies, serpentinization and its astrobiological potential, uproot speakers' language.
"We are participating in these workshops to facilitate the selection of landing sites in 2020 since 2014," said Matt Golombek, co-chair of the Mars Landing Site Steering Committee, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. from NASA in Pasadena, California. "At our first workshop, we had started with about 30 candidate landing sites.After an additional orbital imaging and a second workshop on the landing sites, we had recommended to eight sites to go to. from the front for further evaluation, the selection process has been difficult, this time with four finalists it will be even more difficult, each site has its own scientific potential and well-informed advocates. "
The champions of four landing options will take their turn on the podium, presenting and defending their favorite package on the red planet. This is one site more than expected after the completion of the third workshop, in 2017, where three sites on Mars were recommended: the Columbia Hills, the Jezero Crater and the Northeast. is from Syrtis.
"By the end of the workshop, in February 2017, our radar had only three potential landing sites for March 2020," said Ken Farley, scientific lead for the March 2020 JPL project. "But in the months that followed, a proposal was made for a landing site between Jezero and Northeast Syrtis.Our goal is to get the right site offering the maximum scientific data for March 2020, and this new site, dubbed "Midway" – was considered worthy of being included in the discussions. "
On the last day, once all presentations are complete, workshop participants will evaluate the positive and negative aspects of each site. The results of these deliberations will be communicated to the March 2020 project, which will incorporate them into a recommendation at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC, where the final selection will be made. The announcement of the landing site of March 2020 should take place by the end of the year.
"I have attended all the workshops so far, and none have been disappointed with regard to smart promotion and lively debate," Farley said. "But it's science, it's coherent and respectable exchange of ideas, the passion of the participants shows how much they are interested in exploring Mars, they know they play a key role in the process and know how much the landing site for March 2020 will be. "
Mars 2020 will be launched on a United Atlas Launch Atlas (ULA) ATV from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida in July 2020. It is expected to reach Mars in February 2021.
The rover will conduct geological assessments of its landing site on Mars, determine the livability of the environment, look for signs of the life of the ancient Martian and assess natural resources and resources. dangers for future explorers. Scientists will use the instruments on board the rover to identify and collect rock and soil samples, lock them in sealed tubes and leave them on the surface of the planet for a possible return to Earth for a future mission on Mars.
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More information:
For more information on March 2020, visit mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
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