Following The Water

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dragon04

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Spirit and Opportunity have done amazing science. And outlasted their mission life beyond my wildest expectations.<br /><br />But I have a question. Why didn't NASA roll the dice and drop one of the two MER's on or very close to one of the Martian polar regions?<br /><br />It seems to me that perhaps the risk of doing so would have been worth the possible rewards.<br /><br />I'm sure there were very good reasons, but what WERE those reasons? Anyone know? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>
 
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nexium

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From the poles of Mars, Earth is below the horizon for months at a time, thus requiring communications satelites in orbit around Mars to relay both data and commands. On the good side, Earth is above the horizon 25/7 during about 1/2 the time sunlight falls on the poles of Mars. Neil
 
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no_way

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Isnt the "follow the water" quest officially over with the ice lake picture that the Mars Express took ?
 
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radarredux

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> <i><font color="yellow">Isnt the "follow the water" quest officially over with the ice lake picture that the Mars Express took ?</font>/i><br /><br />Now it is "follow the liquid water" <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />The MERs provided ground truth for past water on Mars, and the current fleet of orbiting sensors have provided strong indicators of current water on mars as ice and sometimes in liquid form (SpaceDaily article). It would be good to get some ground truth of the water however (e.g., by drilling).<br /><br />However, I do think the "was there water?" and "is there water?" questions are largely resolved. Now they will probably spend a lot of effort trying to characterize that water.<br /><br />IMHO, I think they should shift more effort away from water and to directly searching for life, past and present.</i>
 
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radarredux

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> <i>]<font color="yellow">Why didn't NASA roll the dice and drop one of the two MER's on or very close to one of the Martian polar regions?</font>/i><br /><br />PBS (?) had a special on the MERs, and they discussed where to land the Rovers. They said they needed:<br /><br />(1) low enough latitudes for the solar panels to work.<br />(2) low enough altitudes for the parachutes to slow down the landers enough.<br />(3) scientifically interesting.<br />(4) and relatively safe to land and for the rovers to travel.<br /><br />With rocket landing and nuclear power for future rovers, a much larger portion of Mars should be available for future landings.</i>
 
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