explortion of Valles Marineris possible in the future?

[TheBoss82]

Do you think exploration of this vast canyon system is possible at all? I was reading the depth of the canyon 7km :shock: which is something like 22K feet. Now i wonder what they would find at those proposed depths, Liquid water or maybe even life? Now how would you propose they would accomplish such a feat? I was thinking at first a balloon with a "elevator" type system, but that wouldn't really work. Then how about a "crane" like system it put's an arm over the canyon about 10 feet or so, and lowers down a elevator with a small rover. Now how do they get that much cable or what ever they may use to get to those depths?

Post your ideas and your thoughts.

 

[origin]

Why not just land in the valley to begin with.

 

[nimbus]

http://marsairplane.larc.nasa.gov/

 

[TheBoss82]

The glider would be good only one problem is to make sure it doesn't get "lost: in the canyon and fly into the walls.

I wonder how much of an atmospheric difference there is in pressure near the bottom of the canyon?

hey i suppose the balloon could slowly descend into the canyon, now how do you stop the balloon from crashing into the side of the walls? You would need some canisters to re inflate the balloon so it can rise again. One mission nasa should do and it really wouldn't be all that difficult just lots of planning and models.

 

[satthralope]

NASA has proposed a skycrane concept for delivering the Mars Science Laboratory. Something similar could be applied here. It uses reaction motors to hover and maneuver. I forsee another challenge with Valles Marinaris exploration. You will need a communications relay because the high canyon walls will reduce the visible sky. There is also the problem of rough terrain.

 

[LoneStar77]

Though the atmosphere is pretty thin on Mars, I wonder if wind might ever be a problem in the Valles Marineris. After all, the valley is about three thousand miles long. While one end could still be in predawn darkness, the other would be standing in mid-day "heat." Certainly in a thicker atmosphere such a temperature gradient in such a constrained channel might kick up quite a flow.

Exploring the Valles would be cool. I've always thought terraforming the red planet Mars would be pretty cool, too.

I got my first feeble glimpses of Martian features from a couple of bound documents I acquired from USGS in Flagstaff, Arizona in the early 1970's. Ever since then, I've been hooked on Mars. Too bad the first plan for a manned mission fell through. We could've had a base on the red planet as early as 1983. Wow. But the Viet Nam budget in the early 70's dwarfed even that lofty project. I hope Obama knows what he's doing. Could the public sector ever give us Mars? I'd like to think so. So far, at least two plans for Mars have bitten the dust, so to speak.

R. Carl Martin, Jr.
Planet Venus is pretty "cool" too, but I wouldn't want to live there

 

[TheBoss82]

So 300km winds? Yeah that pose bit of a problem. I wonder if there is any nasa could determine the depth and or possible wind? As for communications have it tethered to the main unit. Could there be a possibility of liquid water at the bottom of the canyon?

 

[dragon04]

The atmospheric pressure wouldn't be appreciably greater at the bottom of VM compared to "sea level", so winds probably wouldn't be an issue for a probe of significant mass as well as a small profile.

That said, I think VM would be an interesting place to explore especially if areas of the canyon are shielded from UV radiation due to geography and its orientation with respect to the Sun. Also, with even a slightly warmer ambient temperature and a slightly more dense atmosphere at the bottom of the canyon in the absence or mitigation of UV radiation, cool things could happen.

 

[TheBoss82]

So a probe that lands in a balloon, maybe even a rover to explore a bit of the canyon? I would think though at the bttom of the canyon it would be quite rough terrain.