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Week  1

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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

  • burned up

 

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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