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Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the - Solar System ...

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BOX 6.1 Mars <strong>Science</strong> Laboratory<br />

Scheduled to launch <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> fall of 2011, Mars <strong>Science</strong> Laboratory is an advanced rover designed<br />

to follow <strong>the</strong> highly successful Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit <strong>and</strong> Opportunity. Its primary focus is on<br />

assess<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> habitability of geochemical environments identified from orbit where water-rock<br />

<strong>in</strong>teractions have occurred <strong>and</strong> preservation of biosignatures is possible. MSL, weigh<strong>in</strong>g nearly a metric<br />

ton, carries a sophisticated suite of <strong>in</strong>struments <strong>for</strong> remote <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>-situ rock/soil analysis, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g x-ray<br />

diffraction, high precision mass spectroscopy, laser <strong>in</strong>duced breakdown spectroscopy, alpha-proton x-ray<br />

spectroscopy, <strong>and</strong> a suite of cameras <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g microscopic imag<strong>in</strong>g at ten-micron resolution. This<br />

analysis suite will provide detailed m<strong>in</strong>eralogy <strong>and</strong> elemental composition, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> ability to assess<br />

light elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir isotopes. The mission will also demonstrate<br />

<strong>the</strong> sky crane precision l<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g system, long-term surface operations, <strong>and</strong> long-range mobility.<br />

FIGURE 6.2 Examples of <strong>the</strong> diversity of environments <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir m<strong>in</strong>eralogy <strong>and</strong> morphology.<br />

SOURCE: Adapted from S. Murchie, A. McEwen, P. Christensen, J. Mustard, <strong>and</strong> J.-P. Bibr<strong>in</strong>g,<br />

Discovery of Diverse Martian Aqueous Deposits from Orbital Remote Sens<strong>in</strong>g, presentation from <strong>the</strong><br />

Curation <strong>and</strong> Analysis Plann<strong>in</strong>g Team <strong>for</strong> Extraterrestrial Materials Workshop on Ground Truth from<br />

Mars, <strong>Science</strong> Payoff from a Sample Return Mission, April 21-23, 2008, Albuquerque, New Mexico,<br />

available at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/captem/msr2008/presentations/.<br />

PREPUBLICATION COPY—SUBJECT TO FURTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTION<br />

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