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

2. Mars Upper Atmosphere Orbiter—This is an orbiter dedicated to studies of Mars’s upper
atmosphere and plasma environment. The MAVEN mission, selected for the second and final Mars Scout
launch opportunity, addresses the goals of this concept.
FIGURE 1.7 Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover undergoing a test of its sample arm while on a tilt
table at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in September 2010. SOURCE: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Research Infrastructure
In addition to identifying high priority spacecraft missions, the previous decadal survey singled
out two important new pieces of ground-based research infrastructure. They were, in alphabetical order:
• Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope—This 30-meter-class general purpose, optical telescope
would be equipped with adaptive optics. The construction of such a facility has been a high priority in the
last two astronomy decadal surveys. At least three consortia—one in Europe and two in the U.S.—have
developing plans and raising the funds necessary to begin construction of such a telescope.
• Large Synoptic Survey Telescope—This 8-meter-class special purpose, wide-field telescope
will survey the entire visible sky every three nights. This facility was the highest priority ground-based
initiative identified in the most recent astronomy decadal survey and ranked highly in the one before that.
It is envisaged as being constructed and operated via a public-private consortium (Figure 1.8).
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