Artist's representation of Mars 2003 Athena Rover

Video Animation of Mars Rover

NASA animation shows the Mars Rover concept the space agency has selected for its2003 mission to the Red Planet. CLICK HERE TO PLAY

In the words of NASA Mars program scientist Jim Garvin, the agency’s scientists will use the Mars 2003 rover to go by proxy to places they have never been. There, the scientists will use brand-new tools to "measure the dickens" out of Mars in a hunt for evidence of liquid water in the planet’s past, Garvin said.

Listen to SPACE.com's audio interview with Steve Squyres, lead developer of theAthena Rover.
     

Unlike Pathfinder’s Sojourner, the twin rovers this time will be big, weighing perhaps eight times as much as the tiny, six-wheeled robot. In a single day, each rover will be capable of covering the same amount of terrain as Sojourner did during its entire lifetime.

The rovers will also be independent: While Pathfinder split its complement of scientific instruments between the lander and the Sojourner rover, the large 2003 rovers will carry all of their instruments with them during their three-month missions.

"The bottom line is, all of the smarts of the system move off the lander with the rover," said Barry Goldstein, the mission’s deputy flight systems manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). JPL will build the two rovers.

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Each day during the mission, scientists will use images and data collected by the two rovers to dispatch them to investigate promising targets. At first, the rovers will remain close at hand to the landers, traveling farther and farther afield during the course of the mission.

The rovers’ instruments include:

• Panoramic Camera (PanCam): The eyes of the rovers, this camera will assist scientists in surveying the scene the robots will encounter. Through analysis of the images, the science team will also choose where to send the rovers to conduct further studies.
• Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES): This instrument will peer at the rovers’ surroundings in the infrared to hunt down as many types of minerals as possible. Among those, scientists hope, will be those minerals formed by the action of water at the landing site. Among sites being considered are ancient lakebeds or areas that may have experienced hydrothermal activity in the past. The Mini-TES images will also be used in a surveying capacity, allowing scientists to better target the rover toward rocks of potential interest.
• Mossbauer Spectrometer: This instrument, one of two German contributions to the mission, will identify iron-rich minerals in soil and rock targets the rovers will examine up close with its robotic arm. The instrument will also help gauge the role water may have played in the formation of those minerals.
• Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer (APXS): This instrument represents an improved version of one used by Pathfinder’s Sojourner. The APXS will measure the concentrations of most major elements in targeted samples, shedding light on how they formed and underwent alterations over time.
• Microscopic Imager: As its name implies, this arm-mounted camera will give an extremely close look at Mars, revealing to the world what the Red Planet looks like at the level of individual grains of rock and soil.

The rovers will also carry a rock abrasion tool – yes, a RAT – to grind away the outer surface of dusty, weathered rock samples, revealing fresh, pristine layers for study. All of the tools, save the PanCam, will be mounted on the rovers’ individual robotic arm.

For the rovers, their January 2004 arrival will mark the end of a tortured path to Mars.

Originally, a variation on the rovers’ design was to have gone to Mars as early as 2001, but was later deemed too ambitious and deferred to the 2003-05 time frame. At that point, in early 1998, plans called for the rover to play a crucial role in collecting and returning Martian samples to Earth.

A closeup of the 2003 rover's arm, with its microscopic imager, APXS, Mossbauer spectrometer and rock abrasion tool.

Sample return, crippled by technical difficulties and spiraling budgets, was then placed on hold, leaving the rover again in the lurch.

This summer, following the hasty reorganization of NASA’s immediate Mars exploration plans, the rover cropped up again as a possibility for the 2003 slot.