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Mars Exploration

Mars Exploration. By Jacob Stinar. Water on Mars. Past, Present, and Future Missions to Mars. early on most missions to Mars failed 25 missions from 1960-1970 only 17 missions since. http://www.impactlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Mars-mission-graphic.jpg.

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Mars Exploration

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  1. Mars Exploration By Jacob Stinar

  2. Water on Mars

  3. Past, Present, and Future Missions to Mars • early on most missions to Mars failed • 25 missions from 1960-1970 • only 17 missions since http://www.impactlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Mars-mission-graphic.jpg

  4. http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/428154main_Planetary_Science.pdf

  5. Mars Exploration Budget http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/428154main_Planetary_Science.pdf

  6. Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group(MEPAG) • Broke priorities of Mars exploration into 4 goals: • Life • Climate • Geology • Future Human Exploration

  7. Life • Determine if Mars was ever habitable for life or whether habitable environments exist on Mars now • Look for sources and distribution of organic molecules on Mars, mainly carbon. • After finding places where life may be or may have been on Mars go look for that life

  8. Climate • Study the Martian atmosphere, present Martian climate, and climate processes on Mars. • Study how the climate on Mars has changed over time. • Examine polar, glacial, and periglacial processes

  9. Geological • Examine the geologic processes that have shaped the surface of Mars. • Determine the interior structure and composition of Mars. • Understand the origin, composition, and dynamics of Phobos and Deimos.

  10. Future Human Exploration • Gather knowledge about Mars in order to design a safe cost effective mission to Mars • Test the technology to make it safer and less expensive • Study the Martian atmosphere critical for safe operation of the spacecraft

  11. Southern Polar Ice Cap • Image taken by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) on the Mars Express Orbiter. • Estimated the water in the Southern Polar Cap would cover the entire surface in 11 meters of water.

  12. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) • Went into orbit around Mars in March 2006 • Primary mission was to study the history of water on Mars to see if water was present on Mars for long enough to support life

  13. MRO Instruments • HiRise camera which takes high resolution images of selected areas with resolution of 25 centimeters per pixel. • Context Camera (CTX) which takes wide angle images of HiRise image locations • Mars Color Imager (MARCI) monitors clouds and dust storms • CRISM take spectrums in the optical to near-infrared to identify minerals on the surface • MCS detects variations in temperature, dust, and water vapor in the atmosphere • SHARAD uses radar to see water ice is present under the surface. It works from 1 meter down upwards to 1 kilometer down. • Now MRO is also used to relay signals from spacecraft on the surface with it’s large 3 meter antenna and to scout out landing sites for Mars Landers such as Phoenix and Mars Science Laboratory.

  14. Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity • Spirit is making preparations for the winter, however it was unable to increase the tilt angle of it’s solar panels toward the Sun. • It may lose contact with the Earth for a few months due to low power. • The rover team programmed Spirit to take images to study winds at the surface and positioned it’s arm to study atmospheric composition when it has enough power. • Opportunity is located near the equator and is not having power issues.

  15. Mars Odyssey • Launched in April, 2001 • Main objective is to study the composition Mars’ surface and look for shallow buried ice and water by looking at Hydrogen in the soil • Also serves as a relay communication for Mars’ Landers such as Phoenix. • Listen for Phoenix earlier in the week and heard nothing. Will try again in April. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/missiondetails.cfm?mission=Odyssey

  16. Future Missions: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) • Set to launch in fall 2011 • Largest most mobile rover yet • Can move 90 meters in one day • Can drive over obstacles 75 centimeters high • Examine samples of Martian soil for climate geological history • Test for building blocks of life

  17. Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) • Set to launch in 2013 • Will study the current loss of atmosphere from Mars to understand it past • Will study the interaction between upper atmosphere and solar wind

  18. Questions?

  19. Sources http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/multimedia/images/?ImageID=3180 http://www.uahirise.org/PSP_007338_2640 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/images/phx-17072.html http://nowscape.com/star_city/images/sunset_on_mars_PIA07997.jpg http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_347.html http://www.impactlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Mars-mission-graphic.jpg http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/428154main_Planetary_Science.pdf http://lasp.colorado.edu/maven/docs/MAVEN_fact_sheet.pdf http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/reports/index.html

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