Mars Rover Exploration Mission

1
Mars Rover Exploration Mission

• Stephanie Theuerkorn
• Central Michigan University

2
What Are We Looking At?

• Due to the amount of shrinkage of the surface
  material, scientists believe there is a thin
  crust covering the soil.

3
Introduction

• NASA launched the Mars rovers on June 10th and
  July 7th. 2003.
• The Mars mission is a long-term effort of robotic
  exploration of the red planet.

4
Goals

• Search for and categorize a wide range of rocks
  and soils that may give clues to past water on
  the planet.
• The goal of the rover is to travel up to 40
  meters in a single day.
• Primary Science Instruments

5
Science Instruments

• Panoramic camera (pancam)
• Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer
  (Mini-TES)
• Mossbauer Spectrometer (MB)
• Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS)
• Magnets
• Microscopic imager (MI) and rock abrasion tool
  (RAT)

6
About the Rover

• Rover will perform on-site geologic
  investigations
• The robotic arm will be capable of of movement
  much like that of a human arm

7
So What Does This Mean?

• The uppermost layer of soil is about a half a
  centimeter to one centimeter thick.
• This makes the top layer relatively young in
  geologic years- probably not older than several
  tens of thousands of years old.

8
Contd

• This makes the crust a mere infant when compared
  to what is underneath- which dates back billions
  of years to when the Gusev Crater might have held
  a lake.

9
Waters Role

• Scientists say there is a water cycle on Mars.
• There is water vapor in the atmosphere and ice
  below the surface

10
Conclusion

• The Mars Rover exploration is important because
  it not only gives us information about this
  planet, but it helps us to learn about our own
  planet.