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New Mars Exploration Strategy Blueprinted
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 07:01 am ET
18 February 2003
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New Mars Exploration Strategy Blueprinted A specially convened group of scientists has advised NASA on how the agency might proceed in exploring Mars into the next decade. Raymond Arvidson, Chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, chaired the "Pathways" science working group. Details of the Mars task force were released February 15 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting held in Denver, Colorado. Arvidson said the Pathways group plotted out a new "discovery-driven" agenda with the assumption that both the twin Mars Exploration Rovers next year and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005 will return loads of data. What is now needed is a flexible plan to explore Mars, Arvidson explained. One pathway might be to continue to focus on sites where evidence of past lakes or hydrothermal waters reaching the surface have been preserved. Another line of attack might be to probe the interior of the planet by using geophysical techniques and drilling. Doing so could help uncover shallow water tables and other water-related alterations, past or present, Arvidson said. A third scenario could focus on polar ices and niches for life on Mars. A search for evidence of recent liquid water and possible biosignatures and habitats would be undertaken. "The goal of the discovery-driven pathways is to develop a set of possible mission scenarios that optimally seek and hopefully confirm the presence of biosignatures related to the formation and evolution of life," Arvidson explained. "Sending humans to Mars will happen sooner rather than later if we find evidence for past or present life or even if we find strong evidence that organic compounds have been preserved in settings such as ancient lake beds or hydrothermal systems," Arvidson concluded.
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