NEXT GENERATION TOOLS AND STRATEGIES FOR MARS EXPLORATION

The objectives and strategies for a potential 2018 Mars rover mission are a current focal point for the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG). A study team has worked over the past 4 months to define and evaluate options for this mission, which has the working name “Mid-Range Rover” (MRR). An important objective for this potential mission would be to lay foundations for the potential future return of geological samples, and in doing so respond to and build upon the past decade of Mars exploration, as well as future results from the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover. The strategic planning surrounding MRR therefore encompasses a complex array of factors, including science lessons from terrestrial field geology and astrobiology.

In order to prepare for a possible future Mars Sample Return (MSR), MRR’s science objectives would need to parallel those of MSR, and those objectives should include BOTH a key life-related objective AND at least one other major geologic objective. Incorporating these factors, the team envisions a mission that would conduct a careful geological survey, document and interpret context for sample selection, acquire a strategic set of well-characterized samples, and cache them for possible return to Earth by a subsequent mission. Importantly, terrestrial studies highlight the need to carefully integrate observations from regional to micro scales in order to confidently interpret individual sample analyses—this is particularly true for interpreting traces of ancient microorganisms. On Mars, orbiting spacecraft could provide context at the regional to local scale, while mast-mounted instruments provide outcrop scale data. For MRR, it is envisioned that arm-mounted instruments would micro-map elements, minerals and organics at hand-lens scales on abraded rock surfaces. This would constitute a very different strategy to the MSL and ExoMars laboratories, which would measure the average properties of collected samples.

The proposed MRR mission would extend our surface and shallow subsurface exploration of Mars, substantively advance a potential sample return campaign, and potentially become the first mission of that campaign.