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Douglas Isbell
Headquarters, Washington, DC February 11, 1998
(Phone: 202/358-1547)
Diane Ainsworth
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-5011)
RELEASE: 98-26
1998 MARS PAYLOADS INTEGRATED AS SCIENTISTS VIEW FIRST CLOSE-UPS
OF STRANGE, LAYERED POLAR TERRAIN
Swirling bands of eroded, layered rock, reminiscent of the
edges of Alaskan ice sheets, and an array of light and dark
mottled patterns blanket the frigid floor of Mars' south pole,
where NASA's newly named Mars Polar Lander will touch down in late
1999.
The new images of the landing zone for the Mars Polar Lander,
taken by the camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, confirm
that this strange, layered terrain in the south polar region
represents a dramatic departure from the now-familiar Martian
landscapes observed by the Viking landers and Mars Pathfinder. In
December 1999, the next lander in a steady series begun by
Pathfinder will set down in this uncharted territory to dig for
traces of frozen, subsurface water.
"Despite ground fog that obscures part of the surface in
these images, we can see much more surface detail than we've ever
seen before, which suggests that the 75-degree south latitude
landing zone is quite a bit more rugged and geologically diverse
than we had previously thought," said Dr. Michael Malin of Malin
Space Science Systems, Inc., San Diego, CA. Malin is principal
investigator for the Global Surveyor camera and the cameras on the
1998 missions, the Mars Polar Lander and its newly named partner,
the Mars Climate Orbiter.
In the current images from Mars Global Surveyor, obtained
during an aerobraking orbit from about 1,700 miles above the
planet's surface, objects about 48 feet across can be resolved.
Once the spacecraft reaches its final mapping orbit early next
year, at an average of 234 miles above the surface, the camera
will be able to resolve ground features as small as seven to nine
feet across. This greater clarity will enable views of objects as
small as boulders or as subtle as sand dunes.
Over the next year, the Global Surveyor images will be used
in concert with other spacecraft data such as that obtained by its
thermal emission spectrometer to better characterize the geology
of the Martian south pole. After Global Surveyor has reached its
mapping orbit, data from the spacecraft's laser altimeter, which
measures the height and roughness of Martian surface features,
will be combined with the imaging data to aid the final choice of
landing sites.
"We have a wonderful opportunity in the next year to study
this region with data from Mars Global Surveyor, which underscores
the true advantage of conducting a continuing program of Mars
exploration," said Dr. John McNamee, Mars Surveyor '98 project
manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA.
"We will be able to characterize the geology of the whole region
and find the best spot to land, one that presents a balance
between lander safety and scientific interest. This process does
not have to be finalized until June 1999, five months after the
lander has been launched and six months before it lands."
The new landing site images are available on the Internet at
JPL's Mars News web site and at the Malin Space Science Systems
web site at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/marsnews/
http://www.msss.com
The images are being studied while the 1998 Mars Climate
Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander are undergoing key hardware
integration and testing at Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver,
CO. The spacecraft are currently being prepared for transfer to
the Lockheed Martin environmental test chambers to ensure that
they can survive and operate in the extreme conditions at Mars.
At the completion of this testing, the spacecraft will be flown
separately to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, FL, for integration
with their launch vehicles.
The 1998 Mars lander and orbiter missions are designed to
learn more about the history of Mars' climate and the behavior of
related Martian volatiles, such as water vapor and ground ice.
The orbiter, scheduled for launch on Dec. 10, will conduct a two-
year primary mission to profile the Martian atmosphere and map its
surface. The lander, scheduled for liftoff on Jan. 3, 1999, will
carry out a three-month mission to search for traces of subsurface
water in this frozen, layered terrain and any evidence of a
physical record of climate change.
To meet these scientific objectives, the orbiter will carry a
rebuilt version of the Pressure Modulated Infrared Radiometer
(PMIRR) that was lost with Mars Observer in 1993. This
atmospheric sounder will observe the global distribution and time
variation of temperature, dust, water vapor and condensates in the
Martian atmosphere. PMIRR is a collaboration between JPL, Oxford
University and Russia's Space Research Institute.
Like Mars Global Surveyor, the Mars Climate Orbiter carries a
dual camera system, contained in an amazingly compact package
about the size of a pair of binoculars. The Mars color imager's
one-pound wide-angle camera will return daily low-resolution
global views of the planet's atmosphere and surface, while its
medium-angle camera will provide higher resolution (30 feet per
pixel) images. The medium-angle camera will build global and
regional maps of Mars in multiple colors over the course of the
mission. These maps will be used to characterize surface
properties and changes in the distribution of dust.
The 1998 lander carries three scientific packages: the Mars
descent imager, provided by Malin, which will view the landing
site at increasingly higher resolution as the lander descends to
the surface of Mars; the atmospheric lidar experiment, provided by
the Russia space institute, which will monitor the presence and
height of atmospheric hazes, coupled with a miniature microphone
furnished by The Planetary Society, Pasadena, CA, to record the
sounds of Mars; and the Mars Volatile and Climate Surveyor (MVACS)
package, led by principal investigator Dr. David Paige of the
University of California, Los Angeles.
MVACS includes a surface stereo imager based on the Mars
Pathfinder camera, both built at the University of Arizona; a
meteorology package, built at JPL; a robotic arm, also built at
JPL, to acquire soil samples and close-up images of the surface
and subsurface; and the thermal and evolved gas analysis
experiment, built at the University of Arizona. JPL will oversee
mission operations with the spacecraft team at Lockheed Martin
Astronautics and the instrument teams located at their home
institutions during the lander and orbiter missions.
"MVACS and the other science experiments are tailor-made for
the exploration of Mars' south pole," said Dr. Richard Zurek,
project scientist at JPL. "The robotic arm, which is reminiscent
of the Viking arm and scoop that were used to carry out biology
experiments in the mid-1970s, is, in fact, much more versatile.
It can reach farther out, dig up to three feet below the surface
and then place soil samples in a miniature oven, called the
evolved gas analysis experiment, where the samples are 'cooked'
and analyzed for chemical and gas content."
Piggybacking on the Mars Polar Lander are two small 4.5-
pound microprobes provided by NASA's New Millennium technology
validation program. Deployed before landing, they will penetrate
and embed themselves beneath the Martian surface to study
subsurface materials.
A CD-ROM with the names of students from all over the world
will also be flown on the lander. Signatures may be submitted via
the Internet to:
http://spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/mars
The Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Climate Orbiter are the
second set of launches in a long-term NASA program of Mars
exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program. The missions are
managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO, is NASA's industry
partner in the mission.
-end-