Canadian Partnerships in Upcoming Mars Exploration Missions
- Paper number
IAC-07-A3.3.06
- Author
Dr. Nadeem Ghafoor, MDA, Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. Eric Choi, MDA, Canada
- Coauthor
Ms. Gita Ravindran, MDA, Canada
- Coauthor
Dr. Christian Sallaberger, MDA, Canada
- Coauthor
Dr. Robert Richards, Canada
- Coauthor
Dr. Ralf Gellert, University of Guelph, Canada
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The Canadian Mars exploration program was initiated in May 2002 when Marc Garneau, former president of the Canadian Space Agency, presented a vision for Canada to play a significant role in Mars exploration in this decade and beyond. Such a vision has driven strong partnership with US and European Mars programs and this paper reviews Canadian participation in the next three missions, namely NASA Phoenix, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and ESA ExoMars. In 2008 Phoenix will land in the northern Vastitas Borealis region to assess astrobiological potential at high latitudes. In particular, it verifies the evidence of subsurface water ice detected by Mars Odyssey’s gamma ray spectrometer, investigates soil mineralogy and geochemistry and measures atmospheric properties. Canada’s contribution to Phoenix is the Meteorological (MET) package, consisting of a lidar to measure cloud extent and atmospheric scatterer distribution, as well as temperature and pressure sensors. Key MEPAG questions to be addressed including determining the present distribution of Martian water, CO2 and dust, determining Martian climate trends, determining escape rates of atmospheric species and measuring parameters affecting the atmosphere. NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, scheduled for 2009 launch, will operate for at least one Martian year on the surface and focus on science objectives related to Mars habitability. A key instrument on MSL is the Canadian Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). This contact sensor employs Alpha particle and X-ray irradiation from a radioactive Cm-244 source and determines composition from backscatter spectra. Particle-Induced X-ray Excitation (PIXE) produces lines for low Z elements (Na to Ti) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) produces lines for higher Z elements (Cr to Br). APXS has significant Mars exploration heritage, with previous versions having flown on the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions. Phoenix and MSL will be followed by ExoMars, ESA’s flagship Aurora mission aiming to characterize the Martian biological environment in preparation for future exploration. Planned for launch in 2013, the ExoMars rover must be capable of operating autonomously over several kilometers of rocky terrain. In preparation for the mission a number of mobile robotics activities are underway, including the development of a rapid chassis simulation tool, a full-scale chassis prototype and several developments in autonomous navigation including localization, path planning and motion estimation as well as 3-d terrain modeling. This paper summarizes the status of MET, APXS and ExoMars developments, provides an overview of the relevant technologies and describes Canada’s participation in these missions.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-A3.3.06.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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