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  • Mars Analysis
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Assessment of Mars Exploration Rover landing site predictions

Nature volume 436, pages 44–48 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Comprehensive analyses of remote sensing data during the three-year effort to select the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites at Gusev crater and at Meridiani Planum correctly predicted the atmospheric density profile during entry and descent and the safe and trafficable surfaces explored by the two rovers. The Gusev crater site was correctly predicted to be a low-relief surface that was less rocky than the Viking landing sites but comparably dusty. A dark, low-albedo, flat plain composed of basaltic sand and haematite with very few rocks was expected and found at Meridiani Planum. These results argue that future efforts to select safe landing sites based on existing and acquired remote sensing data will be successful. In contrast, geological interpretations of the sites based on remote sensing data were less certain and less successful, which emphasizes the inherent ambiguities in understanding surface geology from remotely sensed data and the uncertainty in predicting exactly what materials will be available for study at a landing site.

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Figure 1: Portion of the panorama obtained from the Spirit landing site, showing the moderately rocky, relatively smooth plain predicted from remotely sensed data.
Figure 2: Image of the Meridiani plain showing its dark, relatively dust- and rock-free plain, as predicted by orbital remote sensing data.
Figure 3: THEMIS thermal inertia image in colour overlaid on a THEMIS visible image of Spirit landing area.
Figure 4: Rock size-frequency distributions at three locations along the Spirit traverse, VL1, VL2 and MPF landing sites.

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply indebted to the MER engineers for offering us the opportunity to test our landing site predictions with data from the surface of Mars. We acknowledge the contributions of R. Blanchard, P. Withers and the MER Atmospheric Advisory Team to the interpretations of the atmospheric entry information. M. Wyatt provided the THEMIS thermal inertia image. R. Castano, A. Castano, B. Bornstein and R. C. Anderson developed OASIS, R. Deen provided panoramas and associated range at correct resolution, and T. Stough and M. Judd provided rock counts. Research described in this paper was done by the MER project, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, California, 91109, Pasadena, USA

    M. P. Golombek, J. A. Crisp, A. F. C. Haldemann, D. M. Kass, T. J. Parker, J. T. Schofield & R. W. Zurek

  2. Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, 63130, USA

    R. E. Arvidson

  3. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA

    J. F. Bell III & S. W. Squyres

  4. Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA

    P. R. Christensen, R. L. Fergason & R. Greeley

  5. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87104, USA

    L. S. Crumpler

  6. Oxford University, OX1 3PG, UK

    B. L. Ehlmann

  7. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20560, USA

    J. A. Grant

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Correspondence to M. P. Golombek.

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Golombek, M., Arvidson, R., Bell, J. et al. Assessment of Mars Exploration Rover landing site predictions. Nature 436, 44–48 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03600

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