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NASA announced the launch of a second rover to Mars in 2003

will be much larger than the Sojourner - the Pathfinder SUV from 1997

Avi Blizovsky

In 2003, NASA plans to launch an all-terrain vehicle that will be a sibling to the vehicle launched from the Mars Pathfinder, using crawling, aborting, and monitoring technologies. The new, larger vehicle is expected to reach the surface of Mars in January 2004 and begin a long journey of scientific research, the largest ever conducted on the Martian surface.
Dr. Edward Weiler, from the Office of Space Sciences at NASA Headquarters in Washington, announced that the SUV was chosen from two options that had been examined since March of this year.
"Today I am announcing the selection of the vehicle, even though the corresponding mission of a spacecraft that will attack Mars has not yet been decided - which is a more difficult decision," Wheeler says. In 2003 they will land at two different points on Mars, instead of just one vehicle."
"We are planning the implementation of the two vehicle option" Weiler adds. "I intend to decide on this within a few weeks, so that development will meet the 2003 launch schedule."
"Using greater mobility and stronger science capability than the Sojourner vehicle launched from the Pathfinder, these robotic explorers will be able to scan 100 meters along the surface each Madimai day (24 hours and 37 minutes). The Mars rovers will carry sophisticated equipment and their instruments will make it possible to scan for evidence of liquid water that may have been present there in the past, as well as examining the cornerstones of the surface's geology."
"This mission will provide us with a field geologist, albeit a robotic one, on Mars for the first time. It will have the opportunity not only to advance scientific breakthroughs, but also to provide us with essential full-scale experience of the surface, something that will help us in future missions, says Scott Hubbard, of Mars Program Manager at NASA Headquarters. "A landing mission in 2003 will allow us to explore what Mars and Earth have in common."

After the launch of a Delta II rocket, and a journey of 7 and a half months, the spacecraft will be able to enter the atmosphere of Mars on January 20, 2004 in a soft landing like that of Pathfinder, the parachute will open and slow the spacecraft down, and airbags will inflate for the landing. Upon reaching the surface, the spacecraft will spin about a dozen times and may fly and roll about a kilometer. When it stops, the airbag will inflate and deflate intermittently, and petal-like surfaces will open and point the lander in its proper direction, then it can release the SUV.
Unlike Pathfinder, where most of the scientific instruments were in the lander that remained stationary and the robot transmitted to it, this time the intention is that the mobile robot will be a mobile scientific station.
Immediately after landing, the lander is expected to provide us with a tour of the landing area through a 360-degree panoramic photograph in color and infrared. He will then leave the petal structure behind, and travel wherever the scientists direct him to test rocks and soil that interest them. "The rover will travel almost the same distance in one day as the Sojourner did in all three months of its life. Rocks and soil will be analyzed in a series of 5 instruments. A special tool called "RAT" stands for Rock Abrasion Tool will be used to expose the surface of the rocks for the purpose of study.
The new rover will weigh about 150 kg, and as mentioned will have a range of 100 meters per day from one ship. The surface tests will last at least 90 Martian days, bringing the mission to an end near the end of April 2004, but it could continue longer, depending on the rover's 'health'.
Jim Garvin, NASA's Mars Project Scientist, says that the rover will be able to teach us everything about the surface of Mars from the small grains to the giant cliffs. This will be a step up in our Mars exploration program.”
An important aspect of the rover's mission will be to investigate the climatic and water history of the landing site. It is estimated that the arid climate was once warmer and contained flowing water, thus also having the potential to create life as we know it on Earth.
The location of the landing site has not yet been chosen, but it is likely to be a dry lake or a stream channel - places where scientists believe there was once water. The site will choose based on thorough investigations from the data collected by the Mars Global Surveyor, from the anticipated Mars 2001 orbiter mission and previous missions.
The alternative mission, which is under discussion, is a scientific compass that will contain a camera capable of detecting small objects - 60 cm wide, an imaging spectrometer designed to investigate mineralogical evidence of the existence of ancient water in the history of Mars, and other scientific instruments.

Teams at JPL (the Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in Pasadena, California, and a team from Lockheed-Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colorado, have so far conducted tests of both missions.
The project should be included in the NASA budget submitted by the US president every year. And after it is included, we will know if
One or maybe two Rovers came out

(c) The scientist 28.07.2000

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