Minutes from Mars Landing Site Steering Committee Meeting

Meeting began with business items at ~7:00 p.m. and was followed by dinner before being closed at ~8:45 p.m.

All members of Steering Committee were in attendance except for with the exception of Mike Malin and Phil Christensen.

Additional members in attendance included Ray Arvidson (Athena Co-I), Albert Haldemann (MER Deputy Project Scientist), and Cathy Weitz (NASA MER Program Scientist).

Discussion opened with a review of the events of the MER workshop held at NASA Ames on January 24-25^th, 2001. The identification at the workshop of nine high priority sites for MOC targeting during both "rotos" and nadir passes was discussed as was the categorization of an additional 17 sites as medium priority to be imaged by MOC during nadir passes. The decision to discard an additional seven sites from consideration (on the basis of low science potential and/or failure to comply with engineering constraints) was also reviewed. There was unanimous agreement that the lists produced were of high quality and represented good science. No additional sites were deemed to be missing from consideration or from the list. Memo from Matt Golombek and John Grant summarizing the outcomes of the workshop follows.

Discussion then moved to consideration of the next steps in the landing site selection process. It was noted that predictions for the character of and potential science to be accomplished at each site were needed and should be placed within the context of the mission science objectives. Furthermore, identification of distributed targets within high and medium priority landing site ellipses was viewed as very important. The question as to whether the identified sites include one or more Noachian sites was unresolved. Finally, approval was given for preparation of a workshop report to be based upon summaries provided by Steering Committee members. This report will be posted at the Ames and USGS landing site websites.

With respect to coming events, it was unanimous that there should be a second Steering Committee meeting in the fall Fall 2001 time frame to review newly obtained MOC images and other supporting data for the high priority landing sites. identified as high priority. The goal will be to reprioritize the high and medium priority sites on the basis of review of all supporting data (not just MOC) to evaluate whether surface properties and/or science potential warrant a site’s relative priority on the list. It was agreed that the fall 2001 Meeting should be followed by a second open workshop in the May 2002 time frame for the purpose of recommending the two 10⁰ by 15⁰ MER 10° by 15° landing site regions.

The importance of keeping the community informed of events related to landing site selection was noted and led to the suggestion that frequent (~monthly) "reports" on activities be posted on the Ames and USGS landing site websites and distributed to persons attending the Ames workshop. It was also agreed that it was important to try and identify funding at NASA that could be used for mapping of proposed sites. MDAP was suggested as the program that was best suited to this activity, but the timing of proposal submission and unavoidable delay in subsequent funding (relative to the MER mission schedule) was cause for concern.

Finally, the format for the fall Fall 2001 meeting was discussed and the importance and degree of community involvement was evaluated. There was consensus that the meeting should be a "hybrid" Steering Committee meeting with the community being represented largely by persons assigned to particular high priority sites identified at the Ames workshop. Suggestions included establishment of a web-based comment mechanisms for members of the science community to post additional information related to review of the high priority sites. It was agreed that the assigning of one person to take the lead in evaluating a particular site (e.g., the person proposing the site at the Ames meeting) was a good idea. This person would be encouraged to review the landing site in context of all supporting data and could to coordinate with other interested persons who could assist in, or make alternate, presentations.

It was suggested that MOC images and other supporting data would should be posted at the Ames and USGS websites where it was easily accessed by the community and available for review and comment. The need to facilitate access to supporting data sets was also noted, although the need for assistance from NASA Headquarters in gaining access to proprietary data sets was also acknowledged.

The First Mars 2003 Landing Site Workshop held January 24th and 25th, 2001 at Ames Research Center was just completed. A general consensus was reached on the highest priority landing sites. Three lists of

sites were agreed on. The first list is the highest priority sites that will be targeted by nadir and off nadir MOC images. The second list is medium priority sites that will be targeted by nadir MOC images only, when they become available. The third list is of sites that are being eliminated from further consideration. The lists include the site name, approximate ellipse center (latitude, longitude), elevation and geologic unit. Note that the ellipse center will shift slightly from these as ellipses with the new sizes are placed in these locations. In addition, the site in the southern part of Gusev crater has yet to be sited, the Apollinaris and Elysium sites are approximate at this time. New ellipse maps will be prepared and distributed shortly. If you see any errors in sites or ellipse locations, please let us know. Feel free to distribute this list.

Hematite Sites

1)

TM10A 2.2S 6.6 -1.7 Npl2

TM20B 2.3S 6.2 -1.3 Npl2

2)

TM21B 2.5S 3.3 -1.3 Npl2

3

TM9A 1.2S 5.6 -1.3 Npl2

TM19B 1.2S 5.3 -1.3 Npl2

Crater Gale

EP82A 5.8S 222.4 -4.5 S

Crater Gusev

New site in south of Gusev crater to be selected. Will be roughly at

15.5S, 184.5W.

Valles Marineris, Melas Chasma

VM53A 8.8S 77.7 -3.5 Avf

Valles Marineris Outflow at Eastern End

VM41A 14.0S 42.0 -4.0 Hch

Elysium Outflow

EP49B 7.4N 205.6 -3.0 Ael1

Isidis

IP85A 4.5N 271.9 -4.5 Aps

IP98B 4.7N 276.4 -4.0 Aps

Hematite

TM22B 3.2S 7.1 -1.7 Npl2

TM11A 3.4S 6.9 -1.6 Npl2

TM23B 3.4S 3.1 -1.4 Npl2

TM12A 3.6S 2.9 -1.3 Npl2

Other Crater Lakes

Meridiani Crater

TM15A 8.6S 6.7 -1.9 S

TM16A 9.4S 6.6 -1.9 S

Un-named Crater

EP69A 9.3S 209.5 -1.7 Npl1

Boeddicker

EP64A 14.8S 197.5 -2.1 Npl1

Duirus Valles

EP56A 14.6S 188.1 -1.6 Npl1

Gusev

EP55A 14.2S 184.8 -1.9 Hch

Valles Marineris

VM44A 13.1S 62.5 -4.5 Avf

VM47A 6.2S 70.1 -5.0 Avf

VM48A 7.1S 72.5 -5.0 Avf

Valles Marineris Outflow

VM37A 11.1S 37.9 -4.0 Hch

VM42A 7.7S 50.7 -4.5 Avf

Elysium

EP74A 4.2N 216.6 -3.5 Achu

Apollinaris

New Site at roughly 9.5S, 190.2W

Isidis

IP84A 4.5N 271.9 -4.5 Aps

IP96B 4.6N 272.3 -4.5 Aps

Cratered Terrain

TM13A 2.9S 10.5 -1.8 Hr

TM24B 2.8S 10.1 -1.8 Hr

Vallis Marineris Outflow

CP35B

Elysium Planitia

EP52B/EP68A

EP71A

EP62B

EP77A

EP19B

EP61B