Artist's Concept of Rover on Mars
An artist's concept portrays a NASA Mars Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars. Two rovers have been built for 2003 launches and January 2004 arrival at two sites on Mars. Each rover has the mobility and toolkit to function as a robotic geologist.Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University
An artist's concept portrays a NASA Mars
Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Cornell University
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NASA's Opportunity rover was built for a three-month mission on Mars, but continues to return valuable scientific data 10 years later. NASA will reflect on the rover's work in a news conference at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) Thursday, Jan. 23.
The event will originate from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif., and be carried live on NASA Television and streamed online.
Participants will be:
-- Michael Meyer, lead scientist, Mars Exploration Program, NASA
Headquarters, Washington
-- Ray Arvidson, Mars Exploration Rovers deputy principal investigator, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
-- John Callas, Mars Exploration Rovers project manager, JPL
-- Steve Squyres, Mars Exploration Rovers principal investigator, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
-- Ray Arvidson, Mars Exploration Rovers deputy principal investigator, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
-- John Callas, Mars Exploration Rovers project manager, JPL
-- Steve Squyres, Mars Exploration Rovers principal investigator, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
Opportunity, one of NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers, reached the Red
Planet Jan. 24, 2004 (PST). It landed three weeks after its twin, named Spirit.
Both rovers made important discoveries about wet environments that could have
supported microbial life on ancient Mars. Spirit stopped communicating with
Earth in 2010. Opportunity is continuing to provide scientific results, and
currently is investigating the rim of a crater 14 miles (22 kilometers)
wide.
The briefing will be Webcast live at:
For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:
For more information on the missions of Spirit and Opportunity, visit:
NASA Receives Mars 2020 Rover Instrument Proposals for
Evaluation
NASA has received 58 proposals for science and exploration technology
instruments to fly aboard the agency's next Mars rover in 2020, twice the usual
number submitted for instrument competitions in the recent past, and an
indicator of the extraordinary interest in exploration of the Red Planet.
The agency is beginning a thorough review to determine the best combination
of science and exploration technology investigations for the mission and
anticipates making final selections in the next five months.
"Proposal writing for science missions is extremely difficult and time
consuming. We truly appreciate this overwhelming response by the worldwide
science and technical community and are humbled by the support and enthusiasm
for this unique mission," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator
for science in Washington. "We fully expect to be able to select an instrument
suite that will return exciting science and advance space exploration at
Mars."
NASA opened competition for Mars 2020 research proposals in September and
closed it January 15. Several NASA facilities, academia, industry, research
laboratories, and other government agencies submitted proposals. Seventeen
proposals came from international partners.
The Mars 2020 mission is designed to accomplish several high-priority
planetary science goals and will be an important step toward meeting President
Obama's challenge to send humans to Mars in the 2030s. The mission will conduct
geological assessments of the rover's landing site, determine the habitability
of the environment, search for signs of ancient Martian life, and assess natural
resources and hazards for future human explorers.
The science instruments aboard the rover also will enable scientists to
identify and select a collection of rock and soil samples that will be stored
for potential return to Earth in the future. This will achieve one of the
highest-priority objectives recommended by the National Research Council's 2011
Planetary Science Decadal Survey. Analysis of such samples in laboratories here
on Earth will help determine whether life existed on Mars and help inform
planning for human exploration missions to the planet.
The rover also may help designers of a human expedition understand the
hazards posed by Martian dust and demonstrate how to collect carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere, which could be a valuable resource for producing oxygen and
rocket fuel.
"NASA robotic missions are pioneering a path for human exploration of Mars in
the 2030s," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human
exploration and operations in Washington. "The Mars 2020 rover mission presents
new opportunities to learn how future human explorers could use natural
resources available on the surface of the Red Planet. An ability to live off the
land could reduce costs and engineering challenges posed by Mars
exploration."
The instruments developed from the selected proposals will be placed on a
rover similar to Curiosity that has been exploring Mars since 2012. Using a
proven landing system and rover chassis design to deliver these new experiments
to Mars will ensure mission costs and risks are minimized as much as possible
while still delivering a highly capable rover.
The 2020 mission will build on the achievements of Curiosity and other Mars
missions, and offer opportunities to deploy new capabilities developed through
investments by NASA's Space Technology Program, Human Exploration and Operations
Mission Directorate, and contributions from international partners.
"New and more advanced space technologies are essential for future human
expeditions to the Red Planet," said Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate
administrator for space technology. "These technologies will enable the life
support and transportation resources needed for future astronauts to live and
work on Mars."
The Mars 2020 rover will join the agency's robust Mars Exploration Program,
which includes the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers, the Odyssey and Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft currently orbiting Mars, and the MAVEN
orbiter, recently sent to study the Martian upper atmosphere. In 2016, a Mars
lander mission called InSight will launch to take the first look into the deep
interior of Mars. The agency also is participating in the European Space
Agency's (ESA’s) 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions, including providing "Electra"
telecommunication radios to ESA's 2016 orbiter and a critical element of the
premier astrobiology instrument on the 2018 ExoMars rover.
For more information about NASA's Mars programs, visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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