PDF version of COSPAR - Space Science Research in Canada Report

alteration rind caused by water flowing over the surface a long time ago. All theinstruments are delivering results that are added together, so you look at the rockfrom different points of view and you get a whole picture.”Gellert said the investigations on Mars will also benefit scientists who study somemeteorites on Earth that are believed to come from Mars. They can compare theAPXS data on the composition of rocks found on Mars with the meteorites onEarth. “They can prove with another piece of evidence that these Martianmeteorites indeed come from Mars.”As principle investigator of the APXS experiment, Gellert will be a member of theMSL project science group that will make decisions about where the rover shouldgo and what samples it should collect for analysis. For the first 90 days of themission, this team will work out of mission control at NASA’s Jet PropulsionLaboratory in Pasadena, California. After that, they will return to their owninstitutions and consult daily by phone. This is similar to what was done with inthe MER program.“In the beginning, to learn how to operate this complex vehicle, it’s best to do thisdirectly at the operations center,” said Gellert. “Later on, when you gainexperience—everything gets smoother after a couple of months—most scientistsgo back to their home institution and do remote operations via computer andtelephone. You retrieve the newest data, give feedback to the whole scienceteam and discuss what to do next.”Hipkin said that working on a large project like this will provide Canadianscientists and engineers with invaluable experience and enhance Canada’sability to collaborate in even more ambitious missions in the future, including,eventually, human exploration of Mars.“We’ll learn a lot about robotic surface operations and working in these bigteams, during both development and operations. And the contacts that our teammembers will make with scientists and engineers and program staff from othercountries is very useful for Canada too. You’re very aware that you are at thecutting edge and the challenges are very real. For the engineering teams, it’svery motivating to try and develop techniques and technologies that go beyondwhat we can do at the moment.”As for the risks of Mars exploration, so far the APXS has lived a charmedexistence; all three vehicles on which it was riding made it safely to the Martiansurface and the missions themselves were extremely successful. Consideringthat roughly two-third of all Mars-bound spacecraft have failed to complete their42