[FPSPACE] FW: [lunar-update] First Landing Site Workshop for the 2009 MarsScience Laboratory (MSL) rover mission to Mars. 5/31/06 -6/2/06, in Pasadena, CA.

Thu Jun 1 00:17:46 EDT 2006



>From: "Larry Kellogg" <larry.kellogg at sbcglobal.net>
>To: <lunar-update at news.altair.com>
>Subject: [lunar-update] First Landing Site Workshop for the 2009 
>MarsScience Laboratory (MSL) rover mission to Mars. 5/31/06 -6/2/06, in 
>Pasadena, CA.
>Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 14:32:50 -0700
>
>First Landing Site Workshop for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) 
>rover mission to Mars. The workshop will be held May 31st through June 2nd, 
>2006, in Pasadena, CA.
>
>Look for life but don't bring any of your own.
>- LRK -
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/msl/First_MSL_Landing_Site_Workshop_Annoucement_1-18-06.htm
>Snip
>
>Planetary Protection Considerations:
>
>The MSL project has been assigned to Category IVc by NASAâ€™s Planetary 
>Protection Office with constraints on the landing site and regions accessed 
>from it. Specifically, MSL is limited to landing sites not known to have 
>extant water or water-ice within one meter of the surface. Later access to 
>â€œspecial regionsâ€ defined in NPR 8020.12C (regions where terrestrial 
>organisms are likely to propagate, or interpreted to have a high potential 
>for the existence of extant martian life forms) is permitted only in the 
>vertical direction through use of sterilized sampling hardware. The above 
>are general guidelines for site selection; compliance of specific landing 
>sites and nearby regions will be determined through discussions with the 
>Planetary Protection Office during the site selection process.
>
>Snip
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>
>It takes time to plan an outing on Mars. Only 3 years to go for launch and 
>folks are considering interesting places to visit.
>- LRK -
>
>Thanks for looking up with me.
>
>Larry Kellogg
>
>Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
>BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
>RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
>Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
>=============================================================
>http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/#0605
>
>Snip
>May 31-Jun 02 - 1st Landing Site Workshop For the 2009 Mars Science 
>Laboratory, Pasadena, California
>http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/msl/First_MSL_Landing_Site_Workshop_Annoucement_1-18-06.htm
>
>
>First Landing Site Workshop For the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory
>May 31st - June 2, 2006 Pasadena, CA
>
>Snip
>
>An Overview of Workshop Objectives:
>
>The purpose of the Landing Site workshop is to identify and evaluate 
>potential landing sites best suited to achieving stated mission science 
>objectives within the constraints imposed by engineering requirements, 
>planetary protection requirements, and the necessity of ensuring a safe 
>landing. A NASA-appointed Landing Site Steering Committee and the Mars 
>Science Laboratory Project will use the results of the workshop as the 
>basis for narrowing the list of potential landing sites under 
>consideration. Community consensus with respect to high priority sites will 
>also be solicited. In addition, the workshop will provide a means for 
>identifying potential landing sites as targets for imaging by the MGS, 
>Odyssey, MRO, and perhaps other orbital assets.   Note: the number of 
>potential landing sites is high because MSL entry, descent, and landing 
>capabilities enable a small landing error ellipse (20km diameter), high 
>landing site altitude (<2km), and wide latitudes (Â±60Â°).
>
>Mission Science Objectives:
>
>The primary scientific goal of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is to 
>assess the present and past habitability of the martian environments 
>accessed by the mission. Habitability is defined as the potential of an 
>environment to support life, as we know it. Such assessments require 
>integration of a wide variety of chemical, physical, and geological 
>observations. In particular, MSL will assess the biological potential of 
>the regions accessed, characterize their geology and geochemistry at all 
>appropriate spatial scales, investigate planetary processes that influence 
>habitability, including the role of water, and characterize the broad 
>spectrum of surface radiation. To enable these investigations, MSL will 
>carry a diverse payload capable of making environmental measurements, 
>remotely sensing the landscape around the rover, performing in situ 
>analyses of rocks and soils, and acquiring, processing, and ingesting 
>samples of rocks and soils into onboard laboratory instruments. A candidate 
>landing site should contain evidence suggestive of a past or present 
>habitable environment. To the extent that it can be determined with 
>existing data, the geological, chemical, and/or biological evidence for 
>habitability should be expected to be preserved for, accessible to, and 
>interpretable by the MSL investigations.
>
>An overview of the MSL mission can viewed at 
>http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/overview .
>A summary of NASAâ€™s Mars exploration strategy is at 
>http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mep/mslides/index.html
>[note: link above doesn't work - LRK - try 
>http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html ]
>
>and additional information can be viewed at 
>http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/reports/index.html .
>Web tools for visualizing and analyzing relevant Mars data as well as an 
>archive of previously proposed and selected landing sites are available at 
>http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites / and
>http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/ ,
>which also includes a web based GIS interface for relevant Mars data. Web 
>sites for MSL landing site selection activities are 
>http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/
>and the USGS PIGWAD site, where workshop announcements, program, and 
>abstracts can be accessed along with more detailed descriptions of the MSL 
>mission, science objectives and investigations, and instruments.
>
>Snip
>=============================================================
>http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/msl.html
>Mars Science Laboratory
>
>Spacecraft
>Planned Launch: Fall, 2009
>Arrival: October, 2010
>
>Building on the success of the two rover geologists that arrived at Mars in 
>January, 2004, NASA's next rover mission is being planned for travel to 
>Mars before the end of the decade. Twice as long and three times as heavy 
>as the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Science 
>Laboratory would collect martian soil samples and rock cores and analyze 
>them for organic compounds and environmental conditions that could have 
>supported microbial life now or in the past. The mission is anticipated to 
>have a truly international flavor, with a neutron-based hydrogen detector 
>for locating water provided by the Russian Federal Space Agency, a 
>meteorological package provided by the Spanish Ministry of Education and 
>Science, and a spectrometer provided by the Canadian Space Agency.
>
>
>Snip
>=============================================================
>http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/mars_science_lab_040211.html
>Next Generation Rover: The Mars Science Laboratory
>By Leonard David
>Senior Space Writer
>posted: 07:00 am ET
>11 February 2004
>
>PASADENA, Calif. -- While the Spirit and Opportunity rovers wheel 
>themselves into the history books of Mars exploration, get ready for the 
>next giant leap in rolling across the red planet.
>
>The Mars Science Laboratory is an all-terrain, all-purpose machine, akin to 
>an extraterrestrial Sport Utility Vehicle.
>
>To be rocketed toward Mars in 2009, this long-range, long-duration robot is 
>a trend setter. It will scope out Mars like never before to assess that 
>puzzling planet as a potential habitat for life -- past or present -- and 
>help verify if human explorers could exist there in the future.
>
>Imaginative engineering
>
>Snip
>=============================================================
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory
>This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected 
>future events.
>
>It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may 
>change dramatically as the event approaches and more information becomes 
>available.
>
>The Mars Science Laboratory (or MSL for short) is a NASA rover scheduled to 
>launch in December 2009 and perform a precision landing on Mars in October 
>2010. This rover will be three times as heavy and twice the width of the 
>Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) that landed in 2004. It will carry more 
>advanced scientific instruments than any other mission to Mars. The 
>international community will provide most of these instruments. The MSL 
>rover will be launched by an Atlas V or Delta IV medium class booster. Once 
>on the ground, MSL will analyze dozens of samples scooped up from the soil 
>and cores from rocks. MSL will be expected to operate for at least 1 
>martian year (~2 Earth years) as it explores with greater range than any 
>previous Mars rover. It will investigate the past or present ability of 
>Mars to support life.
>
>Snip
>=============================================================
>http://www.nuclearspace.com/a_2009_Rover.htm
>2009 Mars Rover will be Nuclear Powered
>- compiled by James C. Foster
>
>The NASA Mars Exploration Program (MEP) will launch a spaceflight mission 
>to Mars in late 2009 that will land a nuclear powered roving Mars Science 
>Laboratory on the surface of the planet.
>
>The long duration rover will be equipped to perform many scientific studies 
>of Mars. The primary scientific objectives of the mission will be to assess 
>the biological potential of at least one target area, characterize the 
>local geology and geochemistry, investigate planetary processes relevant to 
>habitability, including the role of water, and to characterize the broad 
>spectrum of surface radiation. The mission is planned to last at least one 
>martian year (687 days). The landing site has not been chosen, but will be 
>selected based on an assessment of its capacity to sustain life.
>
>Snip
>=============================================================
>http://www.marsnews.com/newswire/mars_science_laboratory/
>January 18, 2006
>Mars Science Laboratory: Big Wheels on A Red Planet
>Make way Spirit and Opportunity - big daddy is coming! The next wheels on 
>the red planet will belong to the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) a huge step 
>in how that planet is further poked, probed, and more fully plumbed for new 
>information. MSL is a huge chunk of machinery. At liftoff in September 
>2009, it will carry the largest, most advanced set of instruments for 
>on-the-spot science duties ever dispatched to the martian surface. The 
>nuclear-powered rover is being designed to assess whether Mars ever was, or 
>is still today, an environment able to support microbial life.
>
>Snip
>=============================================================
>
>WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
>
>=============================================================
>
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