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Rover to Collect Mars Samples to Send to Earth

Irene Klotz, Discovery News

Scientists decided not to return to the rover Opportunity's landing site in the equatorial region of Mars which shows evidence of a shallow salty sea. Instead, the consensus of the 150 workshop participants -- more than twice the number expected to attend -- was to explore a region that has clays, which are believed to have formed by water interacting with rocks.

"All are potentially habitable environments," Golombek told Discovery News. "That's the point of the mission."

Some of the sites show distinctive fan-shaped structures believed to be body prints of standing water. Others show actually clay deposits on the surface. A few have both.

"On Earth, there is a strong relationship between clay-bearing minerals and places that can sequester and even promote life," Golombek said.

Most of the the sites will require MSL to drive for several weeks if not months from where it lands to reach the most scientifically interesting features, Golombek said. But with the rover designed to operate for a full Martian year -- or about 687 Earth days -- scientists believe the driving time is worth it.

Scientists will have to narrow the landing site options to either the four more northern locations -- Nili Fossae Trough, Marwth Vallis, and Runcorn and Jezero craters -- or the two southern ones -- Holden and Terby craters -- next year.

Wherever MSL travels, bits of interesting materials will be picked up and deposited into a wire mesh basket about the size of a hockey puck, Golombek said.

If and when NASA approves a sample return mission, the cache will be ready and waiting.

Related Links:

MSL Landing Site Selection

The Mars Science Laboratory

Mars Exploration Rover Mission

The Planetary Society Blog