NASA Selects 28 Scientists For Mars Rover Mission

MARSDAILY

Each selected investigation will work with the Mars Exploration Rover Program Office at JPL, and will become full mission science-team members, joining previously selected scientists as part of the Athena payload science team.

Pasadena - Jun 05, 2002
NASA has selected 28 scientists for participation in the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover Mission, including four from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The mission consists of two separate, though identical, rovers scheduled for launch in mid-2003 and arrival at separate destinations on Mars in early 2004.

The selected proposals were judged to have the best science value among 84 proposals submitted to NASA last December in response to the Mars Exploration Rover Announcement of Opportunity.

"The breadth, scope, and creativity of the scientists selected is very encouraging," said Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA associate administrator for space science, Washington, D.C. "By directly participating in NASA's next mission to the surface of Mars, they will help bring us closer to the long-term objective of our Mars Exploration Program -- understanding Mars as a planet and determining whether life ever existed there."

The rover mission science objectives include: (1) study rocks and soils for clues to past water activity; (2) investigate landing sites that have a high probability of containing evidence of the action of liquid water; (3) determine the distribution and composition of minerals, rocks and soils surrounding the landing sites; (4) determine the nature of local surface geologic processes; (5) calibrate and validate data from orbiting missions at each landing site; and (6) study the geologic processes for clues about the environmental conditions that existed when liquid water was present, and whether those environments were conducive for life.

The scientists selected are:

William M. Folkner; Measurement of Mars Rotation Changes with the Mars Exploration Rovers
Matthew P. Golombek; Directing Long Range Rover Traverses using Orbital Surface Predictions and Mars Exploration Rover Ground Truth
Timothy J. Parker; Sedimentary Stratigraphy and Geomorphology of the rover A and B Landing Sites
Albert S. Yen; Soil Formation without Liquid Water: An Assessment of the Meteoritic Contribution to the Martian Surface
Johannes Brueckner; Max Planck Institut fur Chemie, Mainz, Germany; Investigation of elemental composition of Martian soils and their relationship to global surface chemistry
Nathalie A. Cabrol; SETI Institute, Moffett Field, Calif.; Aqueous Sedimentary Processes at the rover sites
Wendy M. Calvin; University of Nevada, Reno; Mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer investigation for surface mineralogy and surface/orbit constraints on the thermal emission spectrometer
Benton C. Clark; Lockheed Martin Corporation, Littleton, Colo.; Chemical Alteration Processes on Mars: Investigations and Implications
Larry S. Crumpler; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque; Field Geology and Micro-surface Characteristics at Rover Investigation Sites
Jack D. Farmer; Arizona State University, Tempe; Integrated Studies of Surface Geology and Mineralogy to Explore for Past Aqueous Environments
William H. Farrand; Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.; Major and Minor Components of the Surface Layer of Mars: An Investigation Using the Rover Pancam and Mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer
John A. Grant; Smithsonian Institution, Washington; Constraining the Geologic Setting and Evolution of the Rover Landing Site(s)
Ronald Greeley; Arizona State University, Tempe; Mars Exploration Rover: Study of Aeolian Features and Processes
John P. Grotzinger; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; Geological Analysis of Martian Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks
Stubbe Hviid; Max Planck Institut fur Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany; Investigation of the production and composition of Martian soils and dust and their effect upon the Martian atmosphere
Jeffrey R. Johnson; U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Ariz.; Spectrophotometric Observations of Surface Materials at the Rover Landing Sites
Geoffrey A. Landis; Ohio Aerospace Institute, Cleveland; Study of Solar Energy and Dust Accumulation on the rovers
Mark T. Lemmon; Texas A & M University, College Station; Investigation of the properties of Martian atmospheric dust and its effect on the illumination of the Martian surface
Rongxing Li; Ohio State University, Columbus; Surface Image-based High-precision Near Real-time Landing Site Mapping and Long-range Rover Localization
Scott M. McLennan; State University of New York, Stony Brook; Sedimentary Petrology at the Rover Sites
Douglas W. Ming; NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston; Identification and Processes of Formation for Phyllosilicates, Sulfates, and Other Chemical Weathering Products on Mars
Jeffrey E. Moersch; University of Tennessee, Knoxville; A Search for Aqueous Minerals with the Mars Exploration Rover Mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer Experiment
James W. Rice; Arizona State University, Tempe; Geomorphic and Sedimentological Investigations
Lutz Richter; DLR Institut fur Raumsimulation, Koln, Germany; Mars Soil Mechanics Investigations Using Rover Locomotion System Engineering Data
Michael D. Smith; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.; Retrieval of Atmospheric Properties using mini-thermal emission spectrometer spectra
Peter H. Smith; University of Arizona, Tucson; The dust cycle monitored from the rovers
Robert Sullivan; Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.; Physical and Mechanical Properties of Martian Soils Along Rover Traverses
Michael J. Wolff; Space Science Institute, Martinez, Ga.; Aerosol Studies and the Boundary Layer: Things are Looking Up

MARSDAILY

Where to Land on Mars? It's not as Easy as It Looks

Pasadena (JPL) Dec 12, 2001
Of all the places to land on Mars, where in the world should twin rovers go? This question has been on the front burner of discussion with Mars scientists who have the arduous task of selecting a site where it is safe to land and yet is rich in rocks, layered terrain and other geologic features that will beckon a host of scientific inquiries and discoveries for the Mars Exploration Rover mission scheduled to launch in 2003.

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