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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rovers to explore the Martian surface and geology; both landed on Mars at separate locations in January 2004. Both rovers far outlived their planned missions of 90 Martian solar days: MER-A Spirit was active until March 22, 2010, while MER-B Opportunity was active until June 10, 2018.
Spirit, also known as MER-A or MER-2, is a Mars robotic rover, active from 2004 to 2010. Spirit was operational on Mars for 2208 sols or 3.3 Martian years. It was one of two rovers of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Spirit landed successfully within the impact crater Gusev on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin, Opportunity (MER-B), which landed on the other side of the planet. Its name was chosen through a NASA-sponsored student essay competition. The rover got stuck in a "sand trap" in late 2009 at an angle that hampered recharging of its batteries; its last communication with Earth was on March 22, 2010.
Opportunity, also known as MER-B or MER-1, is a robotic rover that was active on Mars from 2004 until 2018. Opportunity was operational on Mars for 5111 sols. Launched on July 7, 2003, as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover program, it landed in Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004, three weeks after its twin, Spirit (MER-A), touched down on the other side of the planet. With a planned 90-sol duration of activity, Spirit functioned until it got stuck in 2009 and ceased communications in 2010, while Opportunity was able to stay operational for 5111 sols after landing, maintaining its power and key systems through continual recharging of its batteries using solar power, and hibernating during events such as dust storms to save power. This careful operation allowed Opportunity to operate for 57 times its designed lifespan, exceeding the initial plan by 14 years, 47 days. By June 10, 2018, when it last contacted NASA, the rover had traveled a distance of 45.16 kilometers.
The Discovery Program is a series of Solar System exploration missions funded by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through its Planetary Missions Program Office. The cost of each mission is capped at a lower level than missions from NASA's New Frontiers or Flagship Programs. As a result, Discovery missions tend to be more focused on a specific scientific goal rather than serving a general purpose.
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.
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The idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies since the late 1940s as part of the broader exploration of Mars. Long-term proposals have included sending settlers and terraforming the planet. Currently, only robotic landers and rovers have been on Mars. The farthest humans have been beyond Earth is the Moon, under the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Apollo program which ended in 1972.
Jezero is a crater on Mars in the Syrtis Major quadrangle, about 45.0 km (28.0 mi) in diameter. Thought to have once been flooded with water, the crater contains a fan-delta deposit rich in clays. The lake in the crater was present when valley networks were forming on Mars. Besides having a delta, the crater shows point bars and inverted channels. From a study of the delta and channels, it was concluded that the lake inside the crater probably formed during a period in which there was continual surface runoff.
The Aeolis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Aeolis quadrangle is also referred to as MC-23 . The Aeolis quadrangle covers 180° to 225° W and 0° to 30° south on Mars, and contains parts of the regions Elysium Planitia and Terra Cimmeria. A small part of the Medusae Fossae Formation lies in this quadrangle.
Ronald Greeley was a Regents’ Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) at Arizona State University (ASU), the Director of the NASA-ASU Regional Planetary Image Facility (RPIF), and Principal Investigator of the Planetary Aeolian Laboratory at NASA-Ames Research Center. He was involved with lunar and planetary studies since 1967 and most recently focused his research on understanding planetary surface processes and geologic histories.
The composition of Mars covers the branch of the geology of Mars that describes the make-up of the planet Mars.
Rosalind Franklin, previously known as the ExoMars rover, is a planned robotic Mars rover, part of the international ExoMars programme led by the European Space Agency and the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation. The mission was scheduled to launch in July 2020, but was postponed to 2022. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused an indefinite delay of the programme, as the member states of the ESA voted to suspend the joint mission with Russia; in July 2022, ESA terminated its cooperation on the project with Russia. As of May 2022, the launch of the rover is not expected to occur before 2028 due to the need for a new non-Russian landing platform.
The Mars Science Laboratory and its rover, Curiosity, were launched from Earth on 26 November 2011. As of September 6, 2024, Curiosity has been on the planet Mars for 4296 sols since landing on 6 August 2012. (See Current status.)
Northeast Syrtis is a region of Mars once considered by NASA as a landing site for the Mars 2020 rover mission. This landing site failed in the competition with Jezero crater, another landing site dozens of kilometers away from Northeast Syrtis. It is located in the northern hemisphere of Mars at coordinates 18°N,77°E in the northeastern part of the Syrtis Major volcanic province, within the ring structure of Isidis impact basin as well. This region contains diverse morphological features and minerals, indicating that water once flowed here. It may be an ancient habitable environment; microbes could have developed and thrived here.
Dawn Yvonne Sumner is an American geologist, planetary scientist, and astrobiologist. She is a professor at the University of California, Davis. Sumner's research includes evaluating microbial communities in Antarctic lakes, exploration of Mars via the Curiosity rover, and characterization of microbial communities in the lab and from ancient geologic samples. She is an investigator on the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and was Chair of the UC Davis Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences from 2014 to 2016. She is Fellow of the Geological Society of America.
Bethany List Ehlmann is an American geologist and a professor of Planetary Science at California Institute of Technology. A leading researcher in planetary geology, Ehlmann is also the President of The Planetary Society, Director of the Keck Institute for Space Studies, and a Research Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Erika Franklin Fowler is an American political scientist. She is a Professor of Government at Wesleyan University, having previously served as a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
The Mars 2020 mission, consisting of the rover Perseverance and helicopter Ingenuity, was launched on July 30, 2020, and landed in Jezero crater on Mars on February 18, 2021. As of September 4, 2024, Perseverance has been on the planet for 1259 sols. Ingenuity operated for 1042 sols until its rotor blades, possibly all four, were damaged during the landing of flight 72 on January 18, 2024, causing NASA to retire the craft.
Ruth Helene Striegel Weissman is a German-American psychologist who specializes in eating disorders. She is the Walter A. Crowell University Professor of the Social Sciences, Emerita, at Wesleyan University.
References
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- ↑ "Present and Past Activities of Alumnae/i". planetary.brown.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ↑ Gilmore, Martha (December 25, 2000). "Strategies for autonomous rovers at Mars". Journal of Geophysical Research. 105 (12): 29223–29237. Bibcode:2000JGR...10529223G. doi:10.1029/2000JE001275 . Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ↑ Deborah Byrd; Joel Block (May 10, 2003). "Smart Mars Rovers". Archived from the original on December 10, 2005. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ↑ Drake, Olivia (December 17, 2008). "NASA Awards Grant for Venus Study". newsletter.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ↑ Space Studies Board Annual Report 2009. National Academies Press. January 1, 2010. p. 38. ISBN 9780309154659 . Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ↑ Drake, Olivia (May 30, 2014). "2 Faculty to Receive Tenure, 5 Promoted to Full Professor". newsletter.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ↑ Drake, Olivia (January 20, 2015). "Paper by Gilmore, Harner MA '13 Says Mars May Host Hydrous Carbonate Minerals". newsletter.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ↑ Drake, Olivia (October 4, 2015). "Gilmore a Science Team Member of 2 Space Mission Proposals Selected by NASA". newsletter.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ↑ "$6M in NASA Funding Awarded to Projects with Contributions by Gilmore". News @ Wesleyan. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
- ↑ Brown, Katherine (2020-02-13). "NASA Selects 4 Possible Missions to Study Secrets of the Solar System". NASA. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
- ↑ Rubenstein, Lauren (November 4, 2019). "NASA Funds Study of Gilmore's Venus Mission Concept". newsletter.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ↑ Isenegger, Claire (November 15, 2019). "Professor Gilmore Receives NASA Funding for Venus Mission Study". wesleyanargus.com. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
