In-Class Notes
Viking Mission 1976
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_program
http://www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/mars/viking.html
- 2 orbiters, 2 landers
- Life detection experiments
Mars Pathfinder 1956
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Pathfinder
http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/default.html
- Moved 10s of meters
- Found basalt and inference of water compounds
Mars Global Surveyor 1956, 7-9 mos after pathfinder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Global_Surveyor
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/
- Visible: showed gulleys, valleys at higher resolution than Viking; Also found results of geologically modern water (the water could be 0-200,000 years old)
- IR: Found a special gray, coarse form of hematite. On Earth, this form of hematite can only be created by exposure to water over time.
Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO)
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/orbiter/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter
Mars Polar Lander (MPL)
http://marsweb.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Polar_Lander
- programming error
- software and hardware weren't tested together and so when the legs came out, the lander thought it was already on the ground and the power switched off. The lander crashed to the ground.
Odyssey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Odyssey
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/
- used gamma ray and neutron spectroscopy
Surface Mars Exploration Rovers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover
- spirit: landed in gusev crater, collected visible data
- opportunity: landed in meridiani, collected geochemical data, found hematite
- they moved more than 100 meters
- provided pictures of bedrock, which was more site-specific than data collected from ground debris that could have come from far away
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/
*
Mars Express
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Express
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/index.html
Phoenix
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(spacecraft)
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/phoenix_water.html
Handouts
- __What is Life - and How Do We Search for It in Other Worlds?__ by: Chris P. McKay
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