Martian 'Armada' Prepares to Set Sail
(From the May/June 2003 issue of StarDate magazine)
Water — the “Holy Grail” of Mars exploration — may abound on the Red Planet: frozen in the polar ice caps or mixed with the soil as permafrost, or buried in reservoirs beneath the surface. A fleet of spacecraft set for departure from Earth during May and June will continue the search for water — including evidence of more-abundant water in the planet’s distant past — from the surface and from orbit. Since water is an essential ingredient for life, the missions will help the search for evidence of past or present Martian organisms.
The fleet includes a European orbiter/lander, two American rovers, and a Japanese orbiter that’s been limping toward Mars for more than five years. Europe’s Mars Express orbiter and Beagle 2 lander will share a ride atop a Russian booster on May 23. The orbiter will use a ground-penetrating radar to look for reservoirs of water below the surface. The lander, which will touch down in what may be an ancient oceanbed, will drill below the surface in search of permafrost and organic chemicals.
The American Mars Exploration Rovers are scaled-up versions of the Sojourner rover that landed on Mars in 1997. They are designed to cover up to a third of a mile, using microscopes and other instruments to analyze rocks and soil.
Mission scientists planned to select final landing sites from a list of four possibilities in late spring. All four sites show evidence of flowing or standing water in the past.
Rover 1 is scheduled for launch as early as May 30, with Rover 2 following a month later. Both will arrive at Mars in January.
Finally, Japan’s Nozomi spacecraft will get a gravitational boost when it swings past Earth in June. It was launched in July 1998, and was supposed to arrive at Mars in 15 months. But a malfunctioning rocket placed it in the wrong path. Engineers devised a new trajectory using gravitational “kicks” from Earth and the Moon to propel the craft to Mars by the beginning of next year. Nozomi will photograph the Martian surface and study dust in the upper atmosphere and the interaction between the atmosphere and the solar wind. — Damond Benningfield
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