MSL site slection meeting

JonClarke · Sep 18, 2008

For the past few days participants in the Mars Science Laboratory landing site workshop have been reviewing the 7 top landing sites.  At the end of the meeting the participants voted on the sites to rank them.  The results?First rank were Eberswalde, Holden and Gale craters. The second rank were Nili Fossae and Mawrth Vallis,Third in ranking were Miyamoto Crater and South Meridiani.The Marsoweb site has lots of useful information http://martianchronicles.wordpress.com/2008/ <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars Arthur Clarke </div>

3488 · Sep 18, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>For the past few days participants in the Mars Science Laboratory landing site workshop have been reviewing the 7 top landing sites.  At the end of the meeting the participants voted on the sites to rank them.  The results?First rank were Eberswalde, Holden and Gale craters. The second rank were Nili Fossae and Mawrth Vallis,Third in ranking were Miyamoto Crater and South Meridiani.The Marsoweb site has lots of useful information http://martianchronicles.wordpress.com/2008/ Posted by jonclarke</DIV>  Thank you very much Jon.Fascinating post & article. I will read it properly later, but the shortlisted sites do not surprise me. I still think Mawrth Vallis will be chosen, despite being in the 'Second Division'. Firstly it is a very low elevation, secondly it is ancient, thirdly shows considerable signs of massive fluidation, so all in all, we get to have a site that is ancient, ideal for studying the ancient Mars, but also showing possible episodes of flash flooding & also ponding, allowing sediments to settle & harden.IMO Mawrth, gives us ancient Mars, clues to a warmer & wetter Mars in the remote past, as well as a potential of a huge grab bag of differing rock types, sedimentary, volcanic & even possible meteorites bought into the valley from flash floods.We'll see.Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

JonClarke · Sep 18, 2008

I like Gale! Holden is also one of my favourites.  But I will be quite cross if we go to Meridiani again. That one is for the engineers - safe, flat and boring. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars Arthur Clarke </div>

3488 · Sep 18, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I like Gale! Holden is also one of my favourites.  But I will be quite cross if we go to Meridiani again. That one is for the engineers - safe, flat and boring. Posted by jonclarke</DIV>Hi Jon,I quite like Holden & Gale too. Eberswalde, is it the sink like feature with inflow channels??? Can't remember right now. Mawrth does it for me at the moment, for the simple reason, it seems to have everything that we can possibly ask for, within a fairly small area. Although fairly close to the Viking 1 & Mars Pathfinder sites, it appears very different to either & certainly more layered with clays & the valley floor is likely to be rich in rocks from other areas dumped there during flooding events (sedimentary, volcanic & even meteorites).We'll see. I really need to go right through the MRO HiRISE images of all seven shortlisted sites. I agree about Meridiani. I fail to see what else that could be done there that MER B Opportunity has not already done to great effect. Meridiani would appear to be an easy cop out, seeing also we've already been there with Oppy. Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

JonClarke · Sep 19, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Hi Jon,I quite like Holden & Gale too. Eberswalde, is it the sink like feature with inflow channels??? Posted by 3488</DIV>Yep.  Ebserwalde is to the NE of Holden and contains a delta formed by a channel that flowed into it.  The delta has meandering distribuitary channels in it, with cut offs, indicating persistant flow.Obviously the lake sites, with their potential for fine-grained sediments were ranked more highly than valleys and troughs.  <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars Arthur Clarke </div>

MeteorWayne · Sep 19, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Yep.  Ebserwalde is the to NE of Holden and contains a delta formed by a channel that flowed into it.  The delta has meandering distribuitary channels in it, with cut offs, indicating persistant flow.Obviously the lake sites, with their potential for fine-grained sediments were ranked more highly than valleys and troughs.  Posted by jonclarke</DIV> A bit off topic for this thread, but definately related... From Live Science <h2>Mars Science Laboratory: Will It Fly in 2009?</h2><h4>September 19th, 2008 Author Leonard David</h4><div class="entry">NASA’s mega Mars rover — the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) — seems to be headed for a major decision point next month. Will it fly in 2009 or be delayed until 2011?A major review meeting on the nuclear-energized MSL is slated for NASA Headquarters in October - with the space agency then or shortly after deciding whether the powerful rover is ready to set sail toward Mars next year.Meanwhile, the folks building the mechanized wonder at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are number crunching, coming up with current dollar numbers for the already over-budget mission. At last ka-ching of the cash register the planetary mission was roughly $2 billion.There are cost implications for delaying MSL’s sendoff to the red planet to 2011.Hall talk at yesterday’s Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) meeting in Monrovia, California seems to suggest that the 2009 launch is still the plan. MEPAG is chartered by NASA Headquarters to assist in planning the scientific exploration of Mars.The buzz at MEPAG is that the cost of missing the launch is so high that JPL and the MSL team are running hard to get the spacecraft off to Mars in the fall of 2009.So a go/no go decision on the one-off MSL appears to remain up in the air at the moment…so keep an eye on this one.</div> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

JonClarke · Sep 19, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Mars Science Laboratory: Will It Fly in 2009?Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV>I think flying such an ambitious mission in such a short time (only 5 years lead time) was very challenging.  I am surprised that it has not already been pushed back to 2011.  But we will see!Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars Arthur Clarke </div>

Search

MSL site slection meeting

JonClarke

Guest

3488

Guest

JonClarke

Guest

3488

Guest

JonClarke

Guest

MeteorWayne

Guest

JonClarke

Guest

Similar threads

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Share this page