Guiding Principles: Unchanged Since Start of Site Selection Process

1
Guiding Principles(Unchanged Since Start of
Site Selection Process)

• Landing site selection is critical to all aspects
  of mission and program success
• Final site recommendation, selection, and
  approval is the job of the Project, the Project
  Science Group (PSG), and NASA HQ, respectively.
• The broad expertise of the science community is
  crucial to the identification of optimal sites.
• Process is open to all and has no predetermined
  outcome

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Avenues for Community Involvement

• NASA-Appointed Steering Comm.
• Add. Members and HQ Ex-Officios
• Blend Experience and Mission Involvement
• Provides for Feed-back on Process
• Mars Characterization Investigators
• New Insight into Landing Site Issues
• Broader Science Community

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Landing Site Steering Committee Members
4
MER Landing Site Selection Process(Events to
Date)

• 9/00 Prelim. Engin. Constraints
• 9/00 185 Potential Sites Identified
• 1/01 1st Landing Site Workshop
• 7 ROTO/17 Nadir (Multiple Ellipses)
• 3/01 Update Thermal/Albedo
• Eliminates Elysium ROTO Site
• Eliminates Several Nadir Sites
• 6/01 Ganges and Candor Eliminated
• Based on Safety Concerns
• 8/01 Consider TCM-5/DeltaDOR
• 9 New Ellipses Including Elysium
• 9/01 Official Ellipses Grow a Bit
• Eliminates three of the 8/01 Ellipses
• 10/01 2nd Landing Site Workshop
• Select 4 Evaluation Ellipses/Regions
• Small Number (4) Alternates

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MER Landing Site Selection Process(Future
Events)(Dates are Tentative)

• 3/02 3rd Landing Site Workshop
• Science Prioritization of 4 Regions
• Start Process of Site Selection for 07
• 4/02 Target Region Certification
• Selection of Two Landing Regions
• Project and NASA HQ
• 2/03 4th Landing Site Workshop
• Prioritize Ellipses in Target Regions
• 4/03 Site Certification
• Project and NASA HQ

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Outcomes of Pasadena Workshop

• Select Four Target Ellipses
• Small Number of Alternates
• Consider/Discuss Following
• ROTO Sites -
• Hematite Region, Isidis Basin, Gale Crater, Gusev
  Crater, Melas Chasma, Eos Chasma
• Nadir Sites
• TCM-5/DeltaDOR Sites (e.g., Athabasca Vallis,
  Ares Vallis Trib.)
• Based on Community Consensus
• Steering Comm. Mediates/Resolves

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Pasadena Landing SiteWorkshop Format

• Day 1
• Introduction and Overview
• Presentation of Sites
• Emphasize science potential
• Comprehensive Discussion
• Day 2
• Presentation of Sites (Contd)
• General Discussion of All Sites
• Landing Site Safety
• Supporting Data Sets/Discussion
• Prioritization of Landing Sites
• Steering Committee Meets

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Basis for Site Selection

• Sites Must Meet All Engineering Requirements
• Sites Best Suited to MER Mission Science
  Objectives
• Relate to definition of the history of water and
  climate on Mars in locations where conditions may
  have been favorable for life. More specifically,
  the goal of each MER is to determine the aqueous,
  climatic, and geologic history of a site on Mars
  where conditions may have been favorable to the
  preservation of evidence of possible pre-biotic
  or biotic processes.
• Scientific criteria used in identification and
  selection of landing sites include locations
  possessing clear evidence for surface processes
  involving ancient water.
• Selection will be based in part on provision of
  clear examples of how the Rover's scientific
  instruments can be used to read the geologic
  record at a site, to investigate what role water
  played there, and to determine how suitable the
  conditions would have been for life.