PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Potential MSL Outcomes and Discovery Response Joy Crisp, David Beaty,

Slides:

Advertisements

Similar presentations

1 1 Session 5: Focused DiscussionsMissions in Definition Possible Next Decade Major In-situ Exploration Missions: AFL and Deep Drill Andrew Steele, David.

Advertisements

Session 3: Advances in Our Understanding of Mars Searching for Evidence of Past or Present Life on Mars David J. Des Marais NASA, Ames Research Center.

Remaining Uncertainties: Little evidence for shorelines corresponding to the elevation of the delta surface and the spillway to the eastern basin, though.

Space Exploration Mars Rovers, Apollo program, Voyager satellites, and SETI All Presented by the Peter C Period: 2 (two) As in 1+1=2 Or 2x1=2 ®

Centre of Planetary Science and Exploration University of Western Ontario.

Modern Exploration Global Surveyor.  Objectives:  High resolution imaging of the surface  Study the topography and gravity  Study the role of water.

Water on Mars. Origins of water The impact of asteroids to mars surface. Polar caps of ice Subsurface finds of reservoirs of water.

Remaining Uncertainties: Is there evidence of a shoreline/bench in Eberswalde crater corresponding to the elevation of the delta surface and the spillway.

Martian Mineralogy: Important Minerals for Understanding Geological Processes on Mars Liz Rampe (NASA-JSC/ORAU) 9 July 2012

Contact between layered sulfate & clay bearing strata and fluvial channel at Gale crater Latitude/longitude: 4°46'26" S, 137°23'42" E Rationale: Alteration.

Phyllosilicate-bearing Trough Latitude/longitude: North, East Rationale: The phyllosilicates exposed here may be lacustrine sediments. Morphology.

Astronomy190 - Topics in Astronomy Astronomy and Astrobiology Lecture 15 : Ancient Mars Ty Robinson.

1 Lab experiments on phyllosilicates and comparison with CRISM data of Mars Mario Parente, Janice L. Bishop and Javier Cuadros.

Light-toned sulfate/clay layer at Gale crater Latitude/longitude: X North, Y East Rationale: Location of transition between phyllosilicate-rich units and.

Mars Exploration By Jacob Stinar. Water on Mars.

The Mawrth Vallis Phyllosilicates Within a Regional Context: Extent, stratigraphy, and mineralogy of Phyllosilicates around Mawrth Vallis and Western Arabia.

Modern Exploration Mars Pathfinder  “NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission – the first spacecraft to land on Mars in more than 20 years and the first ever to.

Report: Mars Returned Sample Quality Workshop Dave Beaty and Yang Liu Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology MEPAG meeting May 14,

Mars Exploration Directorate National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California.

1 Science Perspectives for Candidate Mars Mission Architectures for Mars Architecture Tiger Team (MATT-3) Philip Christensen, Chair Presented.

ASTRONOMY 340 FALL October 2007 Class #9. Salient Martian Features  R Mars = 3396 km (R Earth = 6378 km)  Higher surface area to mass ratio 

Mars: Current State of Knowledge and Future Plans and Strategies Jack Mustard, MEPAG Chair July 30, 2009 Note: This document is a draft that is being made.

Write 3 three facts you already know about Mars. WHAT YOU KNOW.

Early Spacecraft Exploration Viking  “The scientific goal of the Viking missions is to ‘increase our knowledge of the planet Mars with an emphasis on.

VdG:ISME - July Vasco da Gama In Situ Mars Explorer.

CURIOSITY Antoine Henderson Fiona Ward. Launch and Landing  Launched:  November 26, 2011  Cape Canaveral, Florida  Landed: August 6, 2012  August.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology August 4, 2015 Austin Nicholas Landing Site Considerations Related to the Potential Sample.

MSL Status/Update for MEPAG John Grotzinger 1, Joy Crisp 2, and Ashwin Vasavada 2 1 California Institute of Technology 2 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California.

System Integration Testing Requirements Mars Polar Lander Steven Ford SYSM /11/12.

Lesson4d1 Working out the global history of Mars.

Discoveries in Planetary Sciencehttp://dps.aas.org/education/dpsdisc/ Buried Carbonates at Mars Infrared observations from spacecraft orbiting Mars are.

Mars Geochemistry and Future Experiment Needs Mark A. Bullock August 7, 2002.

Impact Crater Lakes and the Astrobiological Exploration of Mars NASA Astrobiology Institute Mars Focus Group Videocon (01/08/01) Nathalie A. Cabrol NASA.

Workshop on Martian Phyllosilicates: Recorders of Aqueous Processes? MEPAG, March 4, 2009 J-Pierre Bibring IAS Orsay, France ias.fr NOTE ADDED.

THE EBERSWALDE DELTAIC COMPLEX AS A HIGH SCIENCE-RETURN TARGET FOR THE 2009 MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY Juergen Schieber, Department of Geological Sciences,

Evaluating New Candidate Landing Sites on Mars: Current orbital assets have set the new standard for data required for identifying and qualifying new Mars.

Science Goals MSL’s primary scientific goal is to explore a landing site as a potential habitat for life, and assess its potential for preservation of.

Measurability – MSL payload instruments Based on definitive nature of the biosignature and its measurability by the MSL payload o diagnostic organic molecules.

NASA’s Exploration Plan: “Follow the Water” GEOLOGY LIFE CLIMATE Prepare for Human Exploration When Where Form Amount WATER NASA’s Strategy for Mars Exploration.

Preservation of Evidence of Ancient Environments and Life on Mars

Phoenix The Phoenix Mars Mission Doug Lombardi Education and Public Outreach Manager Lunar and Planetary Laboratory The University of Arizona

Interlude  Viking mission operations ended in the early 1980s  Viking missions gave scientists the most complete picture of Mars to date. What does this.

Goals for this Meeting: Day 1 Day 2 Update the community on progress in the exploration of Mars, including NASA and the European Space Agency (missions.

Enabling Capabilities A Robotic Field Geologist Access to a site mapped from orbit Long life, mobility, capability to explore a local region Remote sensing.

Life on Mars? 17 February Are we alone? Life arose quickly on Earth, around 4 billion years ago Star formation makes planets, too: they should be.

Mars Science Laboratory 1st Landing Site Workshop Pasadena, CA — 31 May – 2 June Fine-layered Meridiani crater for the MSL Landing Site L. V. Posiolova,

Universe Tenth Edition Chapter 27 The Search for Extraterrestrial Life Roger Freedman Robert Geller William Kaufmann III.

NAI Mars Focus Group Videocon Science and Landing Site Priorities for the Mars 2003 Mission Presentations by: n Ronald Greeley (ASU) & Ruslan Kuzmin (Vernadsky.

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS AND METHANE – SOUTHWEST ARABIA TERRA Carlton Allen and Dorothy Oehler NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX Elizabeth Venechuk Scripps.

A Wealth of Opportunities The signature of water is pervasive in and around the proposed ellipse, which resides ~600 km ENE of Opportunity –Ellipse: Over.

Sinus Meridiani (Hematite) Landing Site for 2003 MER Phil Christensen & The TES Science Team Presentation to NAI MWG by Vicky Hamilton 8 January 2001.

Why do we care about Mars? To understand the distribution of life in the solar system, we have to look for clues in environments that are presently different.

Curiosity Rover By Abby Bradshaw and Paige Taylor.

Exploring Mars with the NASA Rovers Walter S. Kiefer Lunar and Planetary Institute.

Remaining Uncertainties: Little evidence of a shoreline/bench in Eberswalde crater corresponding to the elevation of the delta surface and the spillway.

Introduction: The Mawrth Vallis region has been identified by the Mars Express OMEGA and MRO CRISM instruments as a region with abundant hydrated phyllosilicate.

Fossils Chapter 4 Section 1 Pages Evidence of Ancient Life Fossils- the preserved remains or traces of living things.

Mission to Mars. Why Mars? Mars has long been the subject of human interest.” Explore the potential previous and future ability to sustain life Test technology.

A Summary of MEPAG’s Recent Thinking Re: MSR Science

Preservation of Evidence of Ancient Environments and Life on Mars

Impact Crater Lakes and the Astrobiological Exploration of Mars

Chapter 8.2 “The Inner Planets”

Fossils Essential Questions:

Biosignatures 2 November 2016.

Curious about Curiosity?

Life on Mars? 4 October 2017.

Life on Mars? 20 February 2018.

Mawrth Vallis LSWG Hab/BiosigPres, Jen Eigenbrode/ NASA GSFC

Habitability, Taphonomy, and the Search for Organic Carbon on Mars

Presentation transcript:

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Potential MSL Outcomes and Discovery Response Joy Crisp, David Beaty, and David DesMarais MEPAG Meeting held March 3-4, 2009

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt This is one component of inputs to MATT-3 Question 6: What are the science objectives and program goals for a possible 2018 rover / lander in a U.S.-only program?

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Logical Outcomes of MSL: Past Life Evidence of a past habitable environment YES NO A B YES D Past environment favorable for preservation of evidence of life C YES NO Organic compounds of martian origin in the rocks HOME RUN

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Logical Outcomes of MSL: Modern Life Evidence that the methane is biogenic YES NO E F HOME RUN Organic compounds of martian origin related to modern life

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt MSL as a Test of MEPAG Strategies Do ancient sedimentary rocks or phyllosilicates have the best potential to achieve Goal 1? YES NO Is the terrane sampled by MSL encouraging enough to focus more study there? NO Return to site with improved sampling, access, and/or instrument capabilities Formulate a geologic / astrobiologic model that has predictive value at a planetary scale; use it to identify sites with better potential. GO TO A DIFFERENT SITE MSL or other mission finds something else that is better YES GO TO A DIFFERENT SITE

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Hypothetical Examples The following are four HYPOTHETICAL examples just to show some of the KINDS of outcomes that might result from MSL. They are not meant to be predictions for particular landing sites.

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Hypothetical Example MSL Outcomes: 1 of 4 MSL goes to the delta deposits of Eberswalde. The delta depositional environment is confirmed, but we discover that this kind of facies on Mars is not good for preservation of organic compounds and evidence of fossil life. The clay minerals are limited to thin rock coatings, with minimal amounts of water involved in their formation. There is no sign of organic compounds, likely due to the oxidant compounds found in the rocks. We decide that a better landing site for meeting Goal 1 is one where the phyllosilicates were associated with aqueous deposition in the sediments of lakes having a longer history of aqueous activity. Scenario B

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Hypothetical Example MSL Outcomes: 2 of 4 At Mawrth Vallis, MSL discovers evidence for past environments favorable for life and potentially favorable for preservation of evidence of past life, but no Martian organic compounds are detected. The phyllosilicate deposits turn out to be pyroclastic airfall deposits that were altered by groundwater. We decide that a better landing site for meeting Goal 1 might be one in which there is clearer evidence for water-lain sedimentary deposition. Scenario C

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Hypothetical Example MSL Outcomes: 3 of 4 At Holden Crater, MSL’s SAM instrument finds organic compounds of potentially martian origin in only the deepest (5cm depth) drill holes. MSL’s RAD instrument results, combined with models, indicates that 10 cm would be an optimum minimum depth for finding preserved organic compounds. A follow-up rover or lander mission with deeper drilling capability, to Holden or a previously unvisited site, is being considered. Scenario C or D

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Hypothetical Example MSL Outcomes: 4 of 4 MSL goes to Gale Crater and studies a cross section of materials starting in phyllosilicate-rich materials in the lower part of the section. The rover reaches the sulfate-rich materials two weeks before the end of the mission, but in those two weeks, organic compounds of possible martian origin are finally discovered. Assessment of orbital imagery has revealed an even stronger connection between the sulfate-bearing deposits on Mars and long-lived liquid water on the surface. A follow-up rover mission to return to the sulfate materials at Gale is now high-priority, due to the limited characterization and exciting results. Scenario D

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Types of MSL outcomes and likely follow-up D Habitable past environments but no organics in the rocks  D D Past environments not good for preserving evidence  D S Incomplete assessment of compelling deposits  S SDR Tantalizing interpretations but with ambiguity  SorD, IorR V Interesting organic compounds in the soil  I, V SDR Instruments or rover/tools did not work as planned  SorD, IorR D Incomplete assessment of noncompelling deposits  D SDR Methane source information or origin clues revealed  SorD, IorR SM Interesting organic compounds in the rocks  S, M Follow-up Legend D D: Go to different site with a rover mission S S: Go back to same site with a rover mission I: Go with new instrument capability V V: Go with vertical access capability (rover or lander) R R: Go with new rover capability M M: Go back with MSR MSL OUTCOME FOLLOW-UP MISSION POSSIBILITIES Rover to Same (S) or Different (D) Site Instrument (I) or Rover (R) capability upgrade Vertical access MSR Habitable past environments, no organics in rocks D Past environments not good for preserving evidence D Incomplete assessment of compelling deposits SM Tantalizing interpretations but with ambiguity S or DI or R Interesting organic compounds in the soil but not in the rocks IVM Incomplete assessment of noncompelling deposits D Instruments or rover/tools did not work as planned S or DI or R Methane source information or origin clues revealed S or DI or R Interesting organic compounds in the rocks SM

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY File name: MSLOutcomes_v11.ppt Conclusions Most probable outcomes in response to MSL lead to a rover mission to the same or a different site. Lower probability, but some scenarios may lead to a follow- up mission with vertical access or MSR. It would be sensible to add a cache to the follow-up mission in case it leads to MSR.