Goals and Objectives of Past Spacecraft Missions

The first assignment of the NASA Aerospace Scholars Program in 2011 appears below.Your assignment is to design plan a robotics mission to Mars. Using the information you have learned about robotic spacecraft and the planet Mars, put on your engineering hat and let your imagination go!

Your first task is to write an abstract or brief summary of your proposal. The goal of your abstract is to give an overview of the goals and objectives of the mission. You will need to think about the logistics of a mission to Mars and the objectives you would accomplish on the mission. In your abstract, you should list and explain at least 3 goals of your mission.

Your abstract should be a minimum of 300 words, maximum of 600 words. Review the grading rubric below prior to submitting your assignment.

You need to start thinking about your Mars mission. What are the mission goals (at least three)? What are the mission objectives (at least three)? Please read the rest of this presentation and start writing down your ideas for goals and objectives. Please feel free to email me with your ideas.

For the Full 10 points

Writing Content

Lists and explains at least 3 mission goals and objectives

Clearly lists and explains in detail at least 3 mission goals and objectives

Writing Quality

(Writing Style, Grammar)

Outstanding essay. Correct grammar always used.

Creativity Excellent creativity of assignment. Language Excellent integration of scientific terms. Technical Specifications

(Length, Sources)

300-600 words

Cites at least 2 sources

Meets word length requirement and cites at least 2 sources

Mars Exploration ProgramFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mars Exploration Program (MEP) is a long-term effort to explore the planet Mars, funded and led by the U.S. space agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Formed in 1993, MEP has made use of orbital spacecraft, landers, and rovers to explore the possibilities of life on Mars, as well as the planet's climate and natural resources.[1] The program is managed by NASA's Science Mission Directorate by Doug McCuistion of the Planetary Science Division.[2] As a result of 40% cuts to NASA's budget for fiscal year 2013, the Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG) was formed to help reformulate the MEP, bringing together leaders of NASA's technology, science, human operations, and science missions.[3][4]

Background• The Mars Exploration Program itself was formed officially in the wake of the failed

Mars Observer in September 1992,[1] which had been NASA's first Mars mission since the Viking 1 and Viking 2 projects in 1975. The spacecraft, which was based on a modified Earth-orbiting commercial satellite, carried a payload of instruments designed to study the geology, geophysics, and climate of Mars from orbit. The mission ended in August 1993 when communications were lost three days before the spacecraft had been scheduled to enter orbit.[7]

Mars Exploration ProgramFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Goal 1: Determine if life ever arose on Mars• Curiosity's self-portrait on the planet Mars at "Rocknest" (MAHLI, October 31, 2012). • In order to understand Mars' potential for life, it must be determined whether or not there ever was life on Mars, which begins with assessing the

planet's suitability for life. The main strategy regarding the MEP, nicknamed "Follow the Water," is the general idea that where life is present, there is water (at least in instances on Earth). It is likely that if life ever did arise on Mars, there would need to be a supply of water that was present for a substantial amount of time. Therefore, a prominent goal of the MEP is to look for places where water is, was, or could possibly be, such as dried up riverbeds, under the planetary surface, and in Mars' polar ice caps.

• Aside from water, life also needs sources of energy to survive. The abundance of superoxides makes life on the surface of Mars very unlikely, which essentially rules out sunlight as a possible source of energy for life. Therefore, alternative sources of energy must be searched for, such as geothermal and chemical energy. These sources, which are both used by life forms on Earth, could be used by microscopic life forms living under the Mars' surface.

• Life on Mars can also be searched for by finding signatures of past and present life. Relative carbon abundance and the location and forms that it can be found in can inform where and how life may have developed. Also, the presence of carbonate minerals, along with the fact that Mars' atmosphere is made up largely of carbon dioxide, would tell scientists that water may have been on the planet long enough to foster the development of life. [9]

Goal 2: Characterize the climate of Mars• Another goal of the MEP is to characterize Mars' climate, with regards to its current and past climate, as well as factors that influence climate change on

Mars. Currently what is known is that the climate is regulated by seasonal changes of Mars' ice caps, movement of dust by the atmosphere, and the exchange of water vapor between the surface and the atmosphere. To understand these climatic phenomena means helping scientists more effectively model Mars' past climate, which brings a higher degree of understanding of the dynamics of Mars to NASA scientists. [10]

Goal 3: Characterize the geology of Mars• The geology of Mars is differentiable from that of Earth by, among other things, its extremely large volcanoes and lack of crust movement. A goal of the

MEP is to understand these differences from Earth along with the way that wind, water, volcanoes, tectonics, cratering and other processes have shaped the surface of Mars. Rocks can help scientists describe the sequence of events in Mars' history, tell whether there was an abundance of water on the planet through identifying minerals that are formed only in water, and tell if Mars once had a magnetic field (which would point toward Mars at one point being a dynamic Earth-like planet).[11]

Goal 4: Prepare for the human exploration of Mars• The human exploration of Mars presents a massive engineering challenge. With Mars' surface containing superoxides and lacking a magnetosphere and

an ozone layer to protect from radiation from the sun, scientists would have to thoroughly understand as much of Mars' dynamics as possible before any action can be taken toward the goal of putting humans on Mars. [12]

Since our first close-up picture of Mars in 1965, spacecraft voyages to the Red Planet have revealed a world strangely familiar, yet different enough to challenge our perceptions of what makes a planet work. Every time we feel close to understanding Mars, new discoveries send us straight back to the drawing board to revise existing theories.You'd think Mars would be easier to understand. Like Earth, Mars has polar ice caps and clouds in its atmosphere, seasonal weather patterns, volcanoes, canyons and other recognizable features. However, conditions on Mars vary wildly from what we know on our own planet.

Over the past three decades, spacecraft have shown us that Mars is rocky, cold, and dry beneath its hazy, pink sky. We've discovered that today's Martian wasteland hints at a formerly volatile world where volcanoes once raged, meteors plowed deep craters, and flash floods rushed over the land. And Mars continues to throw out new enticements with each landing or orbital pass made by our spacecraft.The Defining Question for Mars Exploration: Life on Mars?

Among our discoveries about Mars, one stands out above all others: the possible presence of liquid water on Mars, either in its ancient past or preserved in the subsurface today. Water is key because almost everywhere we find water on Earth, we find life. If Mars once had liquid water, or still does today, it's compelling to ask whether any microscopic life forms could have developed on its surface. Is there any evidence of life in the planet's past? If so, could any of these tiny living creatures still exist today? Imagine how exciting it would be to answer, "Yes!!“

Even if Mars is devoid of past or present life, however, there's still much excitement on the horizon. We ourselves might become the "life on Mars" should humans choose to travel there one day. Meanwhile, we still have a lot to learn about this amazing planet and its extreme environments.

Our Exploration Strategy: Seek Signs of Life

To discover the possibilities for past or present life on Mars, NASA's Mars Exploration Program is currently following an exploration strategy known as "Seek Signs of Life.“

This science theme marks a transition in Mars exploration. It reflects a long-term process of discovery on the red planet, built on strategies to understand Mars' potential as a habitat for past or present microbial life. Searching for this answer means delving into the planet's geologic and climate history to find out how, when and why Mars underwent dramatic changes to become the forbidding, yet promising, planet we observe today.

About 3.8-3.5 billion years ago, Mars and Earth were much more similar. Evidence from Mars missions suggest Mars may have been much warmer and wetter than we observe it to be today. In this ancient timeframe, scientists find the first evidence of microbial life on Earth. Did Mars provide similar environmental conditions for life long ago? If microbes were present on Mars in the planet's ancient past, could it exist in special regions today? And, even if microbial life never existed, might Mars provide a future habitat for human explorers someday in the future?

Because water is key to life as we know it, earlier Mars missions (2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Phoenix Lander) were designed to make discoveries under the previous Mars Exploration Program science theme of "Follow the Water." Progressive discoveries related to evidence of past and present water in the geologic record make it possible to take the next steps toward finding evidence of life itself.

Successful Mars MissionsSpacecraft Launch date[1] Operator Mission[1]

Mariner 4 28 November 1964 NASA United States Flyby

Mariner 6 25 February 1969 NASA United States Flyby

Mariner 7 27 March 1969 NASA United States Flyby

Mariner 9 30 May 1971 NASA United States Orbiter

Mars 2 19 May 1971 Soviet Union Orbiter

Mars 2 lander 19 May 1971 Soviet Union Lander

Mars 3 28 May 1971 Soviet Union Orbiter

Viking 1 orbiter 20 August 1975 NASA United States Orbiter

Viking 1 lander 20 August 1975 NASA United States Lander

Viking 2 orbiter 9 September 1975 NASA United States Orbiter

Viking 2 lander 9 September 1975 NASA United States Lander

Mars Global Surveyor 7 November 1996 NASA United States Orbiter

Mars Pathfinder 4 December 1996 NASA United States Lander/Rover

Mars Odyssey 7 April 2001 NASA United States Orbiter

Mars Express 2 June 2003 ESA European Union Orbiter

Spirit 10 June 2003 NASA United States Rover

Opportunity 8 July 2003 NASA United States Rover

MRO 12 August 2005 NASA United States Orbiter

Phoenix 4 August 2007 NASA United States Lander

Curiosity 26 November 2011 NASA United States Rover

Mars Orbiter Mission 5 November 2013 ISRO India Orbiter

MAVEN 18 November 2013 NASA United States Orbiter

Goals and Objectives from Selected Mars Missions

• Goals tend to be larger broad statements like– Explore the history of Life in the Solar System– Understand the process of planet formation– Study the evolution of planetary climate

• Objectives are more specific– Look for evidence of environments suitable for life– Perform seismic measurements to determine the

interior structure of the planet. – Examine stratigraphic layers to map the paleoclimate

Landing Sites of Previous Mars Missions

Mariner 9, 1971(only an orbiter)

Mariner 9 was designed to continue the atmospheric studies begun by Mariner 6 and 7, and • to map over 70% of the Martian surface from the lowest

altitude (1,500 kilometers (930 mi) and at the highest resolutions (from 1 kilometer per pixel to 100 meters per pixel) of any Mars mission up to that point.

• An infrared radiometer was included to detect heat sources in search of evidence of volcanic activity.

• It was to study temporal changes in the Martian atmosphere and surface.

• Mars' two moons were also to be analyzed.

Viking Orbiter and Landers, 1975

Science objectives• Obtain high-resolution images of the Martian

surface• Characterize the structure and composition of

the atmosphere and surface• Search for evidence of life on Mars

Mars Pathfinder Mission, 1997(lander and rover)

Mission goals• To demonstrate that a “cheaper, faster, better” spacecraft can explore the planets,

and• to analyze the Martian atmosphere, climate, geology and the composition of its

rocks and soil.

Mission objectives• To prove that the development of "faster, better and cheaper" spacecraft was

possible (with three years for development and a cost under $150 million).• To show that it was possible to send a load of scientific instruments to another

planet with a simple system and at one fifteenth the cost of a Viking mission. (For comparison, the Viking missions cost $935 million in 1974[8] or $3.5 billion in 1997 dollars)

• To demonstrate NASA's commitment to low-cost planetary exploration by finishing the mission with a total expenditure of $280 million, including the launch vehicle and mission operations.

The Mars Science Laboratory mission and its Curiosity rover mark a transition between the themes of "Follow the Water" and "Seek Signs of Life." In addition to landing in a place with past evidence of water, Curiosity is seeking evidence of organics, the chemical building blocks of life. Places with water and the chemistry needed for life potentially provide habitable conditions. Future Mars missions would likely be designed to search for life itself in places identified as potential past or present habitats.

Like all Mars Exploration Program missions, future missions will be driven by rigorous scientific questions that continually evolve from discoveries by prior missions. New and previously developed technologies will enable us to explore Mars in ways we never have before, resulting in higher-resolution images, precision landings, longer-ranging surface mobility and even the return of Martian soil and rock samples for studies in laboratories here on Earth.

Mars Exploration Rovers: Spirit and Opportunity, 2004

The scientific goals of the rover missions are • to gather data to help determine if life ever arose on Mars, • characterize the climate of Mars,• characterize the geology of Mars, and • prepare for human exploration of Mars.

To achieve these goals, seven science objectives are called for: • search for and characterize a variety of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity, • determine the distribution and composition of minerals, rocks, and soils surrounding the

landing sites, • determine what geologic processes have shaped the local terrain and influenced the

chemistry • perform "ground truth" of surface observations made by Mars orbiter instruments, • search for iron-bearing minerals, identify and quantify relative amounts of specific mineral

types that contain water or were formed in water, • characterize the mineralogy and textures of rocks and soils and determine the processes that

created them, and • search for geological clues to the environmental conditions that existed when liquid water

was present and assess whether those environments were conducive to life.

Mars Polar Lander, 1999(Failed to land successfully)

The goal of MPL was to soft land, under propulsive power, near the edges of the south polar ice cap on Mars and to use cameras, a robotic arm and several sophisticated instruments to measure the Martian soil composition. • The Mars Polar Lander was to touch down on the southern polar layered terrain, between 73 S and 76 S, less than 1000 km from

the south pole, near the edge of the carbon dioxide ice cap in Mars' late southern spring. This terrain appears to be composed of alternating layers of clean and dust-laden ice, and may represent a long-term record of the climate, as well as an important volatile reservoir.

The mission had as its primary science objectives to: • record local meteorological conditions near the Martian south pole, including temperature, pressure, humidity, wind, surface

frost, ground ice evolution, ice fogs, haze, and suspended dust, • analyze samples of the polar deposits for volatiles, particularly water and carbon dioxide, • dig trenches and image the interior to look for seasonal layers and analyze soil samples for water, ice, hydrates, and other

aqueously deposited minerals, • image the regional and immediate landing site surroundings for evidence of climate changes and seasonal cycles, and • obtain multi-spectral images of local regolith to determine soil types and composition. • These goals were to be accomplished using a number of scientific instruments, including a Mars Volatiles and Climate Surveyor

(MVACS) instrument package which was comprised of a robotic arm and attached camera, mast-mounted surface stereo imager and meteorology package, and a gas analyzer. In addition, a Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) was planned to capture regional views from parachute deployment at about 8 km altitude down to the landing. The Russian Space Agency provided a laser ranger (LIDAR) package for the lander, which would be used to measure dust and haze in the Martian atmosphere. A miniature microphone was also on board to record sounds on Mars. Attached to the lander spacecraft were a pair of small probes, the Deep Space 2 Mars Microprobes, which were to be deployed to fall and penetrate beneath the Martian surface when the spacecraft reached Mars.

The spacecraft was launched January 3, 1999; unfortunately, no signal was received from the spacecraft upon arrival at Mars on December 3, 1999. The communication loss and the ultimate fate of the spacecraft remains a mystery. However, like the mythical bird for which it is named, the Mars Scout mission Phoenix has “risen from the ashes” and carries several of the instruments developed for Mars Polar Lander.

Mars Science Laboratory and the Curiosity Rover, 2011(Only an orbiter)

The main scientific goals of the MSL mission are• to help determine whether Mars could ever have supported life, • to determine the role of water in Martain history,• to study the climate and geology of Mars.[13][14] • The mission will also help prepare for human exploration

To contribute to these goals, MSL has eight main scientific objectives:• Biological

– Determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds– Investigate the chemical building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur)– Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes (biosignatures)

• Geological and geochemical – Investigate the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical composition of the Martian surface and near-surface geological

materials– Interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils

• Planetary process – Assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) Martian atmospheric evolution processes– Determine present state, distribution, and cycling of water and carbon dioxide

• Surface radiation – Characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including galactic and cosmic radiation, solar proton events and

secondary neutrons. As part of its exploration, it also measured the radiation exposure in the interior of the spacecraft as it traveled to Mars, and it is continuing radiation measurements as it explores the surface of Mars. This data would be important for a future manned mission.

Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN), 2014

Mission Goals:• to explore Mars' upper atmosphere and ionosphere, and interactions with the

solar wind, • to determine the loss of volatile compounds to space through time and how it

has affected the history of Mars' atmosphere and climate.

MAVEN has four primary scientific objectives: • Determine the role that loss of volatiles from the Mars atmosphere to space has

played through time; • determine the current state of the upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and

interactions with the solar wind; • determine the current rates of escape of neutral gases and ions to space and the

processes controlling them; and, • determine the ratios of stable isotopes that will tell Mars' history of loss through

time. MAVEN is part of NASA's Mars Scout program.