Modern Exploration Mars Odyssey  NASA’s theme for Mars exploration, “Follow the Water”, began with the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission  Odyssey, and every mission since, has addressed the Mars programs’ four goals:  Determine whether life ever arose on Mars  Characterize the climate of Mars  Characterize the geology of Mars  Prepare for human exploration

Modern Exploration Mars Odyssey  Objectives:  Determine the abundance of hydrogen, most likely in the form of water ice, in the shallow subsurface  Globally map the elements that make up the surface  Acquire high-resolution thermal infrared images of surface minerals  Provide information about the structure of the Martian surface  Record the radiation environment in low Mars orbit as it relates to radiation-related risk to human exploration

Modern Exploration Odyssey  Launched April 7, 2001; arrived October 24, 2001  3 instruments:  Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS); mineralogy  Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS); elemental composition  Martian Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE)

Modern Exploration Odyssey  Launched April 7, 2001; arrived October 24, 2001  3 instruments:  Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS); mineralogy  Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS); elemental composition  Martian Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE)

Modern Exploration Odyssey Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Modern Exploration Odyssey Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Modern Exploration Odyssey  Notable results from Odyssey  Evidence for vast amounts of subsurface water ice at both polar regions  Can you see it?

Modern Exploration Odyssey

 Notable results from Odyssey  Evidence for vast amounts of subsurface water ice at both polar regions  Can you see it?  Where is it?  Underneath the surface but…  How deep?  Is it dirty ice? Or icy dirt?

Modern Exploration Odyssey  How is Odyssey advancing scientific understanding of Mars?  Water-ice exists underneath the surface in the polar regions, not just at the poles  What technological advance(s) does Odyssey carry?  GRS; able to “look” below the surface

Modern Exploration Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter  “MRO is basically a spy satellite orbiting Mars.”

Modern Exploration MRO  Objectives:  Characterize the present climate of Mars and how the climate changes from season-to-season and year-to-year  Characterize Mars’ global atmosphere and monitor its weather  Investigate complex terrain on Mars and identify water- related landforms  Search for sites showing stratigraphic or compositional evidence of water or hydrothermal activity

Modern Exploration MRO  Objectives:  Probe beneath the surface for evidence of subsurface layering, water and ice, and profile the internal structure of the polar ice caps  Identify and characterize sites with the highest potential for future missions that will land on Mars’ surface, including possible missions to collect samples for returning to Earth  Relay scientific information to Earth from Mars surface missions.

Modern Exploration MRO  Launched August 12, 2005; arrived March 10, 2006  Aerobraked for 6 months, settling into its mapping orbit in November 2006

Modern Exploration MRO  Instruments:  High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE); providing the highest-res images EVER (30 cm/pix)  Context Camera (CTX); wide-angle imagery  Mars Color Imager (MARCI)  Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Mars Climate Sounder (MCS); spectrometer  Shallow Radar (SHARAD)

Modern Exploration MRO  Instruments:  High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE); providing the highest-res images EVER (30 cm/pix)  Context Camera (CTX); wide-angle imagery  Mars Color Imager (MARCI)  Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Mars Climate Sounder (MCS); spectrometer  Shallow Radar (SHARAD)

Modern Exploration MRO  Instruments:  High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE); providing the highest-res images EVER (30 cm/pix)  Context Camera (CTX); wide-angle imagery  Mars Color Imager (MARCI)  Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Mars Climate Sounder (MCS); spectrometer  Shallow Radar (SHARAD)

Modern Exploration MRO NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Rome/SwRI

Modern Exploration MRO All images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Modern Exploration MRO All images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Modern Exploration MRO Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Modern Exploration MRO  Notable results from MRO  It’s difficult to list results considering MRO is ongoing  So much data coming back it will take years to go through the data, if it even all be analyzed (citizen science!!)

Modern Exploration MRO  How is MRO advancing scientific understanding of Mars?  This is also difficult  Structure of ice cap  Better selection of landing sites  What technological advance(s) does MRO carry?  Highest-res camera EVER  Radar allowing us to peer under the ice cap(s)

DIRTY ICE, ICY DIRT & MAPPING THE SURFACE OF MARS!!!

Modern Exploration Mars Phoenix Lander  “The Phoenix has risen!” - Peter Smith, August 4, 2007

Modern Exploration Phoenix  Objectives:  Study the history of water in the Martian arctic  Search for evidence of a habitable zone and assess the biological potential of the ice-soil boundary

Modern Exploration Phoenix  Launched August 4, 2007; landed on May 25, 2008 on the northern arctic plains  Operated for ~6 months; unlike the MER rovers, Phoenix had no chance of surviving more than 6-7 months  First Mars mission run by a university – University of Arizona

Modern Exploration Phoenix  Instruments:  Surface Stereo Imager (SSI); surface images  Thermal & Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA); organics detection  Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA); wet chemistry lab  Robotic Arm (RA); sampling & imaging  Robotic Arm Camera (RAC); imaging RA scoop before dumping samples, imaging below the lander deck  Meteorological Station (MET); daily weather, first LIDAR on Mars  Mars Descent Imager (MARDI); take images as Phoenix was landing

Modern Exploration Phoenix All images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University

Modern Exploration Phoenix Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Modern Exploration Phoenix Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Modern Exploration Phoenix Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Modern Exploration Phoenix Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Modern Exploration Phoenix  Notable results from Phoenix  Confirmation of Odyssey/GRS measurements of subsurface water-ice  Detection of falling snow  Evidence from atmospheric studies that liquid water once flowed across the Martian surface  Perchlorate (toxic) found in the soils; caused the soil to be surprisingly sticky, very similar to soils in the Antarctic Dry Valleys

Modern Exploration Phoenix  How did Phoenix advance scientific understanding of Mars?  Science is on-going  What technological advance(s) did Phoenix carry?  LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging)

Future Exploration  What are the big questions that will guide future investigations of Mars?  Did life ever evolve on Mars? And, if so, does it still persist in the near- or deep-subsurface?  How does one reconcile the growing evidence that the ancient valley networks of Mars were formed by rainfall yet early Martian climate models fail to produce conditions suitable for water to exist as a liquid?  Did early Mars have a northern ocean?  Was the detection of methane in the Martian atmosphere real or the product of observational error? If real, what is the source of that methane?

A Final Thought  Success rate of all missions to Mars: 1/3 or 33%  Success rate of US missions to Mars: 2/3 or 66%