LANDING SITE SELECTION FOR THE MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MARS SAMPLE RETURN

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Anabel Manning
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Horton Newsom, Ann Ollila, Nina Lanza, Institute of

1 Miyamoto Landing Site LANDING SITE SELECTION FOR THE MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MARS SAMPLE RETURN Horton Newsom, Ann Ollila, Nina Lanza, Institute of Meteoritics and Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Univ. of New Mexico

2 ROLE OF MSL LANDING SITES AND MARS SAMPLE RETURN The current search for landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) raises important questions about selection of the site for the Mars sample return and the ability to return the sample cache that is planned for MSL. This contribution describes some of the current work on the Miyamoto landing site by our group and implications regarding MSR for some of the other proposed landing sites.

3 Miyamoto Crater landing site Spectroscopy (Wiseman, Arvidson, Roush, Marzo) 5 new CRISM cubes Phyllosilicates (Fe-Mg phyllosilicates, e.g. saponite) Olivine, Low calcium pyroxene, high calcium pyroxene, variability of indices identified. Detailed spectral analysis underway Geology (Newsom, Wiseman, Tornabene, Crumpler) 5 HiRISE images in ellipse, no useful CTX images Noachian ancient cratered crust, buried and later exhumed with deltaic deposits north edge of ellipse (Newsom and others) High correlation between geology and CRISM mineral signatures (Crumpler, Wiseman) Evidence for habitable environments from geological setting (low area along extensive channel network) Engineering (Wiseman, Ollila, Golombek, Dobrea) Not a go-to site Latitude near equator no thermal issues! Larger safe-haven site available (-1800 m elevation)

Phyllosilicates, sedimentary geology, This

Miyamoto (1912-1992), an expert observer

4 Locations in Miyamoto Crater (newly assigned name) Site in SW Meridiani Phyllosilicates, sedimentary geology, This crater was recently named for Shotaro Miyamoto ( ), an expert observer of Mars, professor of astrophysics at Kyoto University, and director of the Kwasan and Hida Observatories. Landing Site Miyamoto crater Opportunity

5 Miyamoto crater new sites Higher TI Lower TI Evaporite or chlorides high thermal inertia? Prime site CRISM hi res phyllosilicates Meridiani Planum sulfates and hematite Eastern area- Safe Haven site Night THEMIS IR Proxy for Thermal Inertia (TI)

6 Regional geological history Landing Site Opportunity 1. Early crust and impact structures 2. Fluvial and lacustrine period 3. Deposition in landing site of layered sediments (with phyllosilicates) and river channel deposits 4. Deposition of Meridiani Planum materials 5. Exhumation revealing inverted channel deposits, and phyllosilicates in landing site

7 HRSC perspective view looking West, 8X vertical exaggeration Flat area with complex geology Floor of 150 km diam. crater Inverted channel deposits Sinuous inverted channel deposit?

8 Stereo anaglyph Channel deposit

9 HiRISE images Note the linear positive relief feature near the bottom of the image that continues to the NE as a negative relief feature (see next figure for a full resolution close up. HiRISE Image, image width 6 km.

$Note the fracturing at the top of the channel. HiRISE image, 27.$

10 Portion of HiRISE image Close up of inverted channel. Note the fracturing at the top of the channel. HiRISE image, 27.3 cm/pixel, image width 435 m.

11 Comparison with Eberswalde delta. Miyamoto crater floor positive relief remnant. HiRISE image, 27.3 cm/pixel, 350 m across image. Eberswalde crater deltaic inverted channel deposits. HiRISE image, 26.8 m/pixel, 260 m across image.

For go-to sites the rover must travel to reach the prime sites Go-to landing sites with prime targets in terrains outside the landing site

12 Relationship to Mars Sample Return Types of landing sites for MSL Landing sites with prime targets in the landing site ellipse Go-to landing sites with prime targets in terrains surrounding the landing site ellipse. For go-to sites the rover must travel to reach the prime sites Go-to landing sites with prime targets in terrains outside the landing site ellipse, but only on restricted azimuths from the center of the ellipse The much smaller proposed ellipse for the Mars Sample return (~3 km diameter) can alleviate some of the constraints from MSL go-to sites, but not all

13 Nili Fossae go to site MSR Landing ellipse size MSL Landing ellipse size

14 Miyamoto crater (SW Meridiani) - geomorphology Width 12 km Exhumed crater floor deposits Inverted channel deposits Bedrock materials with phyllosilicates MSR Landing ellipse size

15 MSR implications Some Go-to sites are problematic for sample cache on MSL or sampling as part of the MSR mission, depending on the size of the MSR landing ellipse MSL will have to drive back to a safe MSR landing area if the cache is to be returned Precision landing for MSR may allow access to a go-to site and/or to recover the MSL cache However, some of the current MSL go-to sites (e.g., Nili and Holden) may not have large enough MSR landing areas

New HiRISE Views of Eberswalde Crater and a Tour of Fluvial Systems. Melissa Rice, Jim Bell MSL LSWG telecon, 8 September 2010

New HiRISE Views of Eberswalde Crater and a Tour of Fluvial Systems Melissa Rice, Jim Bell MSL LSWG telecon, 8 September 2010 HiRISE Coverage posted on the LSWG site on 12 April NEW HiRISE Coverage 5 new