4th Landing Site Workshop for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers
Dear Colleague:
As a reminder, the 4th Landing Site Workshop for the 2003 Mars Exploration
Rovers will be held next week, January 8-10, 2003, at the Embassy Suites
Hotel on Huntington Avenue in Arcadia, CA. A block of rooms have been
reserved at the Embassy Suites at the government rate of $99 under the name
of “JPL MER Landing”. Additional information is available at the hotel
website:
http://www.embassysuites.com/en/es/hotels/index.jhtml?ctyhocn=LAXHDES.
The workshop will consider the four sites remaining under consideration:
Hematite, Gusev Crater, Isidis Basin, and the Elysium “Wind Safe” Site.
More specifically, presentations will focus on scientific hypotheses that
can be tested at a site using the Athena Science Payload or focus on issues
related to landing safety and/or rover mobility or instrument operability.
Therefore, talks related to the general geologic setting of the proposed
landing sites will emphasize distinguishing between various testable
hypotheses using the Athena Science Package It is expected that a
compilation of these testable hypotheses will comprise the outcome of the
workshop. An agenda for the workshop is attached.
A complete description of the mission/science objectives of the Mars
Exploration Rovers, all related engineering constraints, and all activities
related to the landing site selection process to date can be reviewed at:
http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/ and http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/.
Attendees are encouraged to review this material prior to the workshop.
This will be the final community workshop related to selection of the
landing sites for the Mars Exploration Rovers. Following the workshop, the
Project and Science Team will formulate a recommendation to NASA
Headquarters for final landing site selection and approval.
Your continued participation is critical to the selection of the optimum
landing sites for the Mars Exploration Rovers and we hope to see you at the
workshop next week!
Sincerely,
John Grant and Matt Golombek
Co-Chairs, Landing Site Steering Committee
John Grant
Center for Earth and Planetary Studies
National Air and Space Museum
Smithsonian Institution
Independence Avenue at 6th Street SW
Washington, DC 20560-0315
202-357-1494 (Voice)
202-786-2566 (Fax)
Preliminary Agenda
4th 2003 Mars Exploration Rover Landing Site Selection Workshop
Pasadena, California
January 8th-10th, 2003
January 8th, Wednesday
Introduction
9:00 a.m. Welcome, Overview of the Landing Site Selection Process and Workshop Goals, John Grant (Co-Chair, Landing Site Steering Committee)
9:15 a.m. Mars Exploration Program, Jim Garvin, Mars Program Scientist
9:30 a.m. Landing Site Selection and the Athena Science Payload,
Steve Squyres
9:45 a.m. History of Ellipse Changes since 3rd Workshop,
Matt Golombek (Co-Chair, Landing Site Steering Committee)
10:15-10:30 a.m. Coffee Break
10:30 a.m. Engineering Constraints, Factors, Process in Selecting the MER Landing Sites , Mark Adler, Project Landing Site Engineer
11:30 a.m. EDL System Updates, Rob Manning , JPL
12:00-1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Discussion
Science of the Landing Sites
2:00 p.m. Analysis of THEMIS Data for Meridiani, Isidis, and Elysium Sites, Phil Christensen and THEMIS Science Team
3:00-3:15 p.m. Coffee
3:15 p.m. Crater Counts at the Landing Sites: Implications for Surface Materials, Martha Gilmore and Ken Tanaka
3:45 p.m. Characterization of Hematite Deposits and Associated Units, Frank Seelos, Washington University
4:15 p.m. Possible Relationships Between Hematite and Large Impact Basin, Horton Newsom
4:45 p.m. Discussion
5:30 p.m. Adjourn
January 9th, Thursday, Science of the Landing Sites (cont.)
8:30 a.m. Eolian History at Hematite and Gusev, Ron Greeley, ASU
9:00 a.m. Synthesis of the Testable Hypotheses for Gusev, Nathalie Cabrol, NASA Ames
9:30 a.m. Testing Hypotheses in Gusev Crater using the Athena Payload, B. Sutter, J. Moore, N. Cabrol, and A. Zent
9:45 a.m. THEMIS Thermophysical and Spectrascopic Properties of Gusev, J. Moersch, H. McSeeen, University of Tennesee
10:15-10:30 a.m. Coffee
10:30 a.m. Fluvial/Lacustrine Analysis of the Gusev Site Based on THEMIS, MOC, and MOLA, Jim Rice, ASU
10:45 a.m. Geologic Units in Gusev Crater, Ross Irwin, NASM CEPS
11:00 a.m. MER Science Goals and Testable Hypotheses at the Isidis Site, Larry Crumpler, NMMNH
11:15 a.m. Geologic Setting of the Isidis Site, George McGill, UMASS
11:30 p.m. Scientific Hypotheses Addressable at the Elysium Site, Jim Rice, ASU, Mike Carr, USGS
12:00 p.m. Geology of the “Elysium” Site, K. Tanaka, J. Skinner, M. Carr, M. Gilmore, and T. Hare
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Science Discussion
Site Safety Presentations
2:30 p.m. Plans for EDL Simulations and Sensitivities, Wayne Lee, JPL
3:45 – 4:00 p.m. Coffee
4:00 p.m. Meter-Scale Slopes from MOC Photoclinometry, R. Beyer and A. McEwen, University of Arizona
4:30 p.m. Topographic Mapping and Slope Analyses, R. Kirk, USGS Flagstaff
5:15 p.m. Analysis of Nightime Temperatures at the Landing Sites, N. Bridges and T. Martin, JPL
5:45 p.m. End of Day Two
January 10th, Friday, Site Safety (cont’d)
8:30 a.m. Hazard Maps of the Landing Sites, Tim Parker, JPL
9:00 a.m. Beyond the Hematite: Additional Motivation to Land in Meridiani, Wendy Calvin, University of Nevada
9:30 p.m. Terrestrial Interferometric Radar Observations of Terra Meridiani and Isidis, K. Larson, A. Haldemann, R. Jurgens, R. Arvidson, M. Slade
10:00 a.m. Boulder Counts in the Gusev Ellipse, R. Schroeder and S. Riedel-Bash
10:15 a.m. Probability of Impacting and Accessing Rocks at the MER Landing Sites, M. Golombek, E. DiMaggio, R. Schroeder, and J. Matijevic, JPL
10:45 a.m. Athena Science Team Perspective on MER Landing Sites , Steve Squyres
11:15 am Discussion
1:00 p.m. Adjourn
