Selection of the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites

被引:132
作者
Golombek, MP
Grant, JA
Parker, TJ
Kass, DM
Crisp, JA
Squyres, SW
Haldemann, AFC
Adler, M
Lee, WJ
Bridges, NT
Arvidson, RE
Carr, MH
Kirk, RL
Knocke, PC
Roncoli, RB
Weitz, CM
Schofield, JT
Zurek, RW
Christensen, PR
Fergason, RL
Anderson, FS
Rice, JW
机构
[1] CALTECH, Jet Prop Lab, Pasadena, CA 91109 USA
[2] Smithsonian Inst, Natl Air & Space Museum, Ctr Earth & Planetary Studies, Washington, DC 20560 USA
[3] Cornell Univ, Dept Astron, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA
[4] Washington Univ, Dept Earth & Space Sci, St Louis, MO 63130 USA
[5] US Geol Survey, Menlo Pk, CA 94025 USA
[6] US Geol Survey, Geol Div, Branch Astrogeol, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 USA
[7] NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546 USA
[8] Arizona State Univ, Dept Geol Sci, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA
[9] Univ Hawaii, Sch Ocean & Earth Sci & Technol, Hawaii Inst Geophys & Planetol, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA
关键词
Mars Exploration Rover; landing sites; remote sensing; aqueous climatic and geologic histories; Meridiani; Gusev;
D O I
10.1029/2003JE002074
中图分类号
P3 [地球物理学]; P59 [地球化学];
学科分类号
0708 ; 070902 ;
摘要
[1] The selection of Meridiani Planum and Gusev crater as the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites took over 2 years, involved broad participation of the science community via four open workshops, and narrowed an initial -155 potential sites (80-300 x 30 km) to four finalists based on science and safety. Engineering constraints important to the selection included (1) latitude (10degreesN-15degreesS) for maximum solar power, (2) elevation (less than -1.3 km) for sufficient atmosphere to slow the lander, (3) low horizontal winds, shear, and turbulence in the last few kilometers to minimize horizontal velocity, (4) low 10-m-scale slopes to reduce airbag spin-up and bounce, (5) moderate rock abundance to reduce abrasion or strokeout of the airbags, and (6) a radar-reflective, load-bearing, and trafficable surface safe for landing and roving that is not dominated by fine-grained dust. The evaluation of sites utilized existing as well as targeted orbital information acquired from the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey. Three of the final four landing sites show strong evidence for surface processes involving water and appear capable of addressing the science objectives of the missions, which are to determine the aqueous, climatic, and geologic history of sites on Mars where conditions may have been favorable to the preservation of evidence of possible prebiotic or biotic processes. The evaluation of science criteria placed Meridiani and Gusev as the highest-priority sites. The evaluation of the three most critical safety criteria (10-m-scale slopes, rocks, and winds) and landing simulation results indicated that Meridiani and Elysium Planitia are the safest sites, followed by Gusev and Isidis Planitia.
引用
收藏
页数:48
相关论文
共 122 条
[1]   Statistics of Mars' topography from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter: Slopes, correlations, and physical Models [J].
Aharonson, O ;
Zuber, MT ;
Rothman, DH .
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS, 2001, 106 (E10) :23723-23735
[2]   Analysis of MOLA data for the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites [J].
Anderson, FS ;
Haldemann, AFC ;
Bridges, NT ;
Golombek, MP ;
Parker, TJ ;
Neumann, G .
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS, 2003, 108 (E12)
[3]  
ANDERSON FS, 2001, LUNAR PLANET SCI
[4]  
[Anonymous], REPORTS PLANETARY GE
[5]   Mantled and exhumed terrains in Terra Meridiani, Mars [J].
Arvidson, RE ;
Seelos, FP ;
Deal, KS ;
Koeppen, WC ;
Snider, NO ;
Kieniewicz, JM ;
Hynek, BM ;
Mellon, MT ;
Garvin, JB .
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS, 2003, 108 (E12)
[6]  
BARNES JR, 1981, J ATMOS SCI, V38, P225, DOI 10.1175/1520-0469(1981)038<0225:MDITMA>2.0.CO
[7]  
2
[8]   Mars Exploration Rover Athena Panoramic Camera (Pancam) investigation [J].
Bell, JF ;
Squyres, SW ;
Herkenhoff, KE ;
Maki, JN ;
Arneson, HM ;
Brown, D ;
Collins, SA ;
Dingizian, A ;
Elliot, ST ;
Hagerott, EC ;
Hayes, AG ;
Johnson, MJ ;
Johnson, JR ;
Joseph, J ;
Kinch, K ;
Lemmon, MT ;
Morris, RV ;
Scherr, L ;
Schwochert, M ;
Shepard, MK ;
Smith, GH ;
Sohl-Dickstein, JN ;
Sullivan, RJ ;
Sullivan, WT ;
Wadsworth, M .
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS, 2003, 108 (E12)
[9]   Meter-scale slopes of candidate MER landing sites from point photoclinometry [J].
Beyer, RA ;
McEwen, AS ;
Kirk, RL .
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS, 2003, 108 (E12)
[10]  
BEYER RA, 2002, LUNAR PLANET SCI