Assessment of NASA's Mars Architecture 2007-2016 (2006) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 4-9
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 4... ...
Nevertheless, Viking was widely regarded as a programmatic failure because the life detection experiments did not return evidence of life on Mars. The lack of clear positive results from the life detection experiments undercut political support for additional Mars missions in the United States until the launch of NASA's Mars Observer in 1992.
|
From page 5... ...
, which devised a comprehensive series of Mars exploration goals and priorities and has drafted topical reports on specific Mars exploration opportunities;12 · The publication in 2003 of the NRC's first solar system exploration (SSE) decadal survey report, New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy,13 which places the exploration of Mars in the context of other SSE activities and also provides specific recommendations and priorities for a variety of Mars exploration activities; · The enunciation on January 14, 2004, of the Vision for Space Exploration, President Bush's overarching plan for "a sustained and affordable human and robotic program to explore the solar system and beyond";14 and · Changes in the Mars Exploration Program's budgetary expectations for fiscal years 2006 and 2007, which resulted in various programmatic adjustments, including the cancellation of the planned 2009 launch of the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, the loss of several Mars Scout missions in the post-2011 period, the termination of a series of robotic human-precursor missions, and the deletion of a variety of technology development activities.15 These factors and, in particular, the last, compelled NASA's Science Mission Directorate to revisit the sequence of missions the agency plans to launch to Mars in the period 2007-2016.
|
From page 6... ...
The Mars Science Laboratory mission was not well defined at the time the SSE decadal survey was drafted. Nevertheless, its importance to addressing key Mars science goals was recognized, and this mission was determined to be the highest-priority medium-cost Mars mission for the decade 2003-2013.18 Since then the scope and cost of the mission have grown significantly.
|
From page 7... ...
Its scientific goals and instrument complement are only partially defined at the moment. Science goals endorsed in the recently completed study by MEPAG's Mars Science and Telecommunications Orbiter Science Analysis Group include the following:21 · Determine the interaction of the solar wind with Mars; · Determine diurnal and seasonal variations of Mars's upper atmosphere and ionosphere; · Determine the influence of the crustal magnetic field on ionospheric processes; · Measure thermal and non-thermal escape rates of atmospheric constituents and estimate the evolution of the martian atmosphere; · Measure composition and winds in the middle atmosphere; and · Address in detail the issue of methane in the atmosphere.
|
From page 8... ...
Their principal purpose is to serve as geological explorers, i.e., to evaluate the geological context of specific sites and search for organic compounds at targets identified by prior missions. As currently envisaged, NASA's goal is to fly two rovers for a cost approximately equal to that of the Mars Science Laboratory.
|
From page 9... ...
5. For a review of NASA's Mars Exploration Program at this point in its development see, for example, National Research Council, Assessment of Mars Science and Mission Priorities, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2003.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.