SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “Mars Science Laboratory rover”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Mineralogy and Elemental Composition of Wind Drift Soil at Rocknest, Gale Crater
The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity has been exploring Mars since August 5, 2012, conducting engineering and first-time activities with its mobility system, arm, sample acquisition and processing system (SA/SPaH-CHIMRA) and science instruments. Curiosity spent 54 sols at a location named "Rocknest," collecting and processing five scoops of loose, unconsolidated materials ("soil") acquired from an aeolian bedform (Fig. 1). The Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument analyzed portions of scoops 3, 4, and 5, to obtain the first quantitative mineralogical analysis of Mars soil, and to provide context for Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) measurements of volatiles, isotopes and possible organic materials.
Volatile Detections in Gale Crater Sediment and Sedimentary Rock: Results from the Mars Science Laboratory's Sample Analysis at Mars Instrument
This chapter discusses the detection of evolved gases from Gale crater sedimentary rock and eolian sediment by the Mars Science Laboratory rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. An overview is presented of the SAM instrument along with summary of key results from previous evolved gas analyses conducted at the Viking and Phoenix landing sites. The SAM measurements of evolved water, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxygen, and nitrous oxide from Gale crater samples are presented. The phases responsible for the evolved gas detections and the implications for their presence are then evaluated. The water deuterium to hydrogen (D/H) ratio is discussed in context of understanding the degree of water loss from Mars. In the introduction of this book, we briefly explored the history of the exploration of Mars, where we discussed a major shift in the scientific thinking and public perception of the nature of the surface of Mars as new missions explored the Red Planet. The first observations of the surface sparked speculations of Mars being inhabited by intelligent beings, inspiring fantasy, science fiction, and, of course, further exploration. The turn came when Mariner 4 returned images of a lunar-like landscape, a monotonous basaltic world with many impact craters but no water, and therefore no prospects for life to find a habitable niche. The authors of the chapters of this book show how different our understanding of Mars is today from the historical Mariner 4 perspective!
Griffith Saponite as an Analog for Clay Minerals at Yellowknife Bay in Gale Crater, Mars: A Marker for Low-temperature Hydrothermal Processes
The CheMin X-ray diffraction (XRD) instrument onboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity in Gale Crater, Mars, discovered smectite in drill fines of the Sheepbed mudstone at Yellowknife Bay (YNB). The mudstone has a basaltic composition, and the XRD powder diffraction pattern shows smectite 02l diffraction bands peaking at 4.59 A for targets John Klein and Cumberland, consistent with tri-octahedral smectites (saponite). From thermal analysis, the saponite abundance is ~20 wt. %. Among terrestrial analogues we have studied, ferrian saponite from Griffith Park (Los Angeles, CA) gives the best match to the position of the 02l diffraction band of YNB saponites. Here we describe iron-rich saponites from a terrestrial perspective, with a focus on Griffith saponite, and discuss their implications for the mineralogy of Sheepbed saponite and its formation pathways. Iron-rich saponite: Iron-rich saponite on the Earth is recognized as a low-temperature (<100 C), authigenic alteration product of basalt [e.g., 4-16]. In the discussion that follows, we reference the position of the 02l band because it is a measure of the unit cell 'b' dimension of the octahedral layer and thus the cations (including Fe redox state) in the octahedral layer. Ordinarily, the 06l band near 1.5 A is used to determine the 'b' dimension of smectite, but this band is not accessible with MSL CheMin instrument. For reference, a ferrosaponite (i.e., Fe2+ saponite) studied by [15] has a 02l spacing of 4.72 A and Fe3+/Fe = 0.27 [15]. Samples of terrestrial ferrosaponite, however, are reported to oxidize on the timescale of days when removed from their natural environment and not protected from oxidation. The Griffith saponite is Mg-rich ferrian saponite, and sample AMNH 89172 has an 02l spacing of 4.59 A (same as the Sheepbed saponites) and Fe3+/Fe = 0.64 [3]. This similarity suggests that Sheepbed saponites are ferrian (incompletely oxidized ferrosaponite). More oxidized Griffith saponites (Fe3+/Fe > 0.90) have somewhat smaller 02l d-spacings and also show Mossbauer evidence for an XRD amorphous Fe-bearing phase (e.g., ferrihydrite, hisingerite, superparamagnetic ferric oxides, etc.). The Griffith saponite occurs as vesicle fills, as replacements of olivine, and as replacements of mesostasis (basaltic glass). Similar occurrence modes are reported elsewhere. Hisingerite has been proposed by [13] as the alteration product of ferrian saponite whose precursor by oxidation was ferrosaponite.
The Search for Organic Compounds of Martian Origin in Gale Crater by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument on Curiosity
One of the key objectives of the Mars Science Laboratory rover and the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite is to determine the inventory of organic and inorganic volatiles in the atmosphere and surface regolith and rocks to help assess the habitability potential of Gale Crater. The SAM instrument on the Curiosity rover can detect volatile organic compounds thermally evolved from solid samples using a combination of evolved gas analysis (EGA) and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) (Mahaffy et al. 2012). The first solid samples analyzed by SAM, a scoop of windblown dust and sand at Rocknest, revealed several chloromethanes and a C4-chlorinated hydrocarbon derived primarily from reactions between a martian oxychlorine phase (e.g. perchlorate) and terrestrial carbon from N-methyl-N-(tertbutyldimethylsilyl)- trifluoroacetamide (MTBSTFA) vapor present in the SAM instrument background (Glavin et al. 2013). After the analyses at Rocknest, Curiosity traveled to Yellowknife Bay and drilled two separate holes in a fluvio-lacustrine sediment (the Sheepbed unit) designated John Klein and Cumberland. Analyses of the drilled materials by both SAM and the CheMin X-Ray Diffraction instrument revealed a mudstone consisting of ~20 wt% smectite clays (Ming et al. 2013; Vaniman et al. 2013), which on Earth are known to aid the concentration and preservation of organic matter. Oxychlorine compounds were also detected in the Sheepbed mudstone during pyrolysis; however, in contrast to Rocknest, much higher levels of chloromethanes were released from the Sheepbed materials, suggesting an additional, possibly martian source of organic carbon (Ming et al. 2013). In addition, elevated abundances of chlorobenzene and a more diverse suite of chlorinated alkanes including dichloropropane and dichlorobutane detected in Cumberland compared to Rocknest suggest that martian or meteoritic organic carbon sources may be preserved in the mudstone (Freissinet et al. 2013). Chloromethane and dichloromethane were also identified after thermal volatilization of the surface soils by the GCMS instruments at the Viking landing sites, although no other chlorinated hydrocarbons were reported (Biemann et al. 1977). Here we focus on the origin of the chlorinated hydrocarbons detected in the Sheepbed mudstone by SAM and the implications for the preservation of organic matter in near-surface materials on Mars.
The Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) X-Ray Diffractometer on the MSL Curiosity Rover: A Decade of Mineralogy From Gale Crater, Mars
For more than a decade, the CheMin X-ray diffraction instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity has been returning definitive and quantitative mineralogical and mineral-chemistry data from ~3.5-billion-year-old (Ga) sediments in Gale crater, Mars. To date, 40 drilled rock samples and 3 scooped soil samples have been analyzed during the rover’s 30+ km transit. These samples document the mineralogy of over 800 meters of flat-lying fluvial, lacustrine and aeolian sedimentary rocks that comprise the lower strata of the central mound of Gale crater (Aeolis Mons; informally known as Mt. Sharp) and the surrounding plains (Aeolis Palus, informally known as the Bradbury Rise). The principal mineralogy of the sedimentary rocks is basaltic, with evidence of early and late-stage diagenetic overprinting. The rocks in many cases preserve much of their primary mineralogy and sedimentary features, suggesting that they were never strongly heated or deformed. Using aeolian soil composition as a proxy for the composition of the deposited and lithified sediment, it appears that in many cases diagenetic changes observed are principally isochemical. Exceptions to this trend include secondary nodules, calcium sulfate veining, and rare Si-rich alteration halos. A surprising and yet poorly understood observation is that nearly all the ~3.5 Ga sedimentary rocks analyzed to date contain 15-70 wt.% of X-ray amorphous material. Over-all, this >800-meter section of sedimentary rock explored in lower Mt. Sharp documents a perennial shallow lake environment grading upward into alternating lacustrine/fluvial and aeolian environments, many of which would have been habitable to microbial life.
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) : the US 2009 Mars rover mission
The Mars Science Laboratory mission is the 2009 United States Mars Exploration Program rover mission. The MSL Project expects to complete its pre-Phase A definition activity this fiscal year (FY2003), investigations in mid-March 2004, launch in 2009, arrive at Mars in 2010 during Northern hemisphere summer and then complete a full 687 day Mars year of surface exploration. MSL will assess the potential for habitability (past and present) of a carefully selected landing region on Mars by exploring for the chemical building blocks of life, and seeking to understand quantitatively the chemical and physical environment with which these components have interacted over the geologic history of the planet. Thus, MSL will advance substantially our understanding of the history of Mars and potentially, its capacity to sustain life.
The 2009 Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
The first spacecraft with a primary function of providing communication links while orbiting a foreign planet has begun development for a launch in 2009. NASA's Mars Telecommunications Orbiter would use three radio bands to magnify the benefits of other future Mars missions and enable some types of missions otherwise impractical. It would serve as the Mars hub for a growing interplanetary Internet. And it would pioneer the use of planet-to-planet laser communications to demonstrate the possibility for even greater networking capabilities in the future. With Mars Telecommunications Orbiter overhead in the martian sky, the Mars Science Laboratory rover scheduled to follow the orbiter to Mars by about a month could send to Earth more than 100 times as much data per day as it could otherwise send. The orbiter will be designed for the capability of relaying up to 15 gigabits per day from the rover, equivalent to more than three full compact discs each day. The same benefits would accrue to other future major Mars missions from any nation.
Exploration of Mars with the ChemCam LIBS Instrument and the Curiosity Rover
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August 2012, and has been exploring the planet ever since. Dr. Horton E. Newsom will discuss the MSL's design and main goal, which is to characterize past environments that may have been conducive to the evolution and sustainability of life. He will also discuss Curiosity's science payload, and remote sensing, analytical capabilities, and direct discoveries of the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) instrument, which is the first Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS) to operate on another planetary surface and determine the chemistry of the rocks and soils.
Atmosphere Assessment for MARS Science Laboratory Entry, Descent and Landing Operations
On August 6, 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, successfully landed on the surface of Mars. The Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) sequence was designed using atmospheric conditions estimated from mesoscale numerical models. The models, developed by two independent organizations (Oregon State University and the Southwest Research Institute), were validated against observations at Mars from three prior years. In the weeks and days before entry, the MSL "Council of Atmospheres" (CoA), a group of atmospheric scientists and modelers, instrument experts and EDL simulation engineers, evaluated the latest Mars data from orbiting assets including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Color Imager (MARCI) and Mars Climate Sounder (MCS), as well as Mars Odyssey's Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS). The observations were compared to the mesoscale models developed for EDL performance simulation to determine if a spacecraft parameter update was necessary prior to entry. This paper summarizes the daily atmosphere observations and comparison to the performance simulation atmosphere models. Options to modify the atmosphere model in the simulation to compensate for atmosphere effects are also presented. Finally, a summary of the CoA decisions and recommendations to the MSL project in the days leading up to EDL is provided.
In-Situ Operations and Planning for the Mars Science Laboratory Robotic Arm: The First 200 Sols
The Robotic Arm (RA) has operated for more than 200 Martian solar days (or sols) since the Mars Science Laboratory rover touched down in Gale Crater on August 5, 2012. During the first seven months on Mars the robotic arm has performed multiple contact science sols including the positioning of the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and/or Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) with respect to rocks or loose regolith targets. The RA has supported sample acquisition using both the scoop and drill, sample processing with CHIMRA (Collection and Handling for In- Situ Martian Rock Analysis), and delivery of sample portions to the observation tray, and the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) and CHEMIN (Chemistry and Mineralogy) science instruments. This paper describes the planning and execution of robotic arm activities during surface operations, and reviews robotic arm performance results from Mars to date.
Supporting Increased Autonomy for a Mars Rover
This paper presents an architecture and a set of technology for performing autonomous science and commanding for a planetary rover. The MER rovers have outperformed all expectations by lasting over 1100 sols (or Martian days), which is an order of magnitude longer than their original mission goal. The longevity of these vehicles will have significant effects on future mission goals, such as objectives for the Mars Science Laboratory rover mission (scheduled to fly in 2009) and the Astrobiology Field Lab rover mission (scheduled to potentially fly in 2016). Common objectives for future rover missions to Mars include the handling of opportunistic science, long-range or multi-sol driving, and onboard fault diagnosis and recovery. To handle these goals, a number of new technologies have been developed and integrated as part of the CLARAty architecture. CLARAty is a unified and reusable robotic architecture that was designed to simplify the integration, testing and maturation of robotic technologies for future missions. This paper focuses on technology comprising the CLARAty Decision Layer, which was designed to support and validate high-level autonomy technologies, such as automated planning and scheduling and onboard data analysis.
The CheMin X-ray Diffractometer on MSL Curiosity: A Decade of Mineralogical Observations from Gale Crater, Mars
For more than a decade, the CheMin X-ray Diffraction instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity has been returning quantitative mineralogical data from Gale crater, Mars. CheMin receives and analyzes sieved soil and powdered rock samples from Curiosity’s Sample Acquisition / Sample Processing and Handling (SA/SPaH) system. To date, 38 samples have been analyzed over the course of a 28 km transit. These samples document more than 600 vertical meters of flat-lying lacustrine, fluvial and aeolian sediments that comprise the lower part of the central mound of Gale crater (commonly called Mt. Sharp).The principal mineralogy of the sediments is basaltic, with evidence of early and late-stage diagenetic overprinting. The rocks in many cases preserve most of their primary mineralogy and sedimentary features, suggesting that they were never strongly heated or deformed. Using aeolian soil composition as a proxy for the composition of the deposited and lithified sediment, it appears that in many cases the diagenetic changes observed are principally isochemical. Exceptions to this include secondary nodules, calcium sulfate veining and rare alteration halos. A striking hematite-rich feature in lower Mt. Sharp called Vera Rubin Ridge is interpreted to be lake sediment diagenetically altered by silica-poor fluids. A surprising and as yet poorly understood observation is that nearly all of the 3.7 Gyr old sedimentary rocks analyzed to date are comprised of 25-50% X-ray amorphous material. Overall, this 600 m vertical section of sedimentary rock explored in lower Mt. Sharp documents a perennial shallow lake environment grading upward into alternating lacustrine/fluvial and aeolian environments. The mineralogical changes observed going up-section include a transition from trioctahedral to dioctahedral clay minerals and a transition from magnetite to hematite. More recently, in the last 150 m of section, CheMin has documented an overall decrease in clay minerals and increase in Fe3+ oxides and oxyhydroxides. The mineralogical changes observed in Gale crater may document the gradual drying out and oxidation of the martian hydrosphere.
Integrated Results from Analysis of the Rocknest Aeolian Deposit by the Curiosity Rover
The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover spent 45 sols (from sol 56-101) at an area called Rocknest (Fig. 1), characterizing local geology and ingesting its aeolian fines into the analytical instruments CheMin and SAM for mineralogical and chemical analysis. Many abstracts at this meeting present the contextual information and detailed data on these first solid samples analyzed in detail by Curiosity at Rocknest. Here, we present an integrated view of the results from Rocknest - the general agreement from discussions among the entire MSL Science Team.
Generation and Performance of Automated Jarosite Mineral Detectors for Vis/NIR Spectrometers at Mars
Sulfate salt discoveries at the Eagle and Endurance craters in Meridiani Planum by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity have proven mineralogically the existence and involvement of water in Mars past. Visible and near infrared spectrometers like the Mars Express OMEGA, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CRISM and the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory Rover cameras are powerful tools for the identification of water-bearing salts and other high priority minerals at Mars. The increasing spectral resolution and rover mission lifetimes represented by these missions currently necessitate data compression in order to ease downlink restrictions. On board data processing techniques can be used to guide the selection, measurement and return of scientifically important data from relevant targets, thus easing bandwidth stress and increasing scientific return. We have developed an automated support vector machine (SVM) detector operating in the visible/near-infrared (VisNIR, 300-2500 nm) spectral range trained to recognize the mineral jarosite (typically KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6), positively identified by the Mossbauer spectrometer at Meridiani Planum. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.
The Curiosity Rover's Exploration of Glen Torridon, Gale Crater, Mars: An Overview of the Campaign and Scientific Results
The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, explored the clay mineral-bearing Glen Torridon region for 1 Martian year between January 2019 and January 2021, including a short campaign onto the Greenheugh pediment. The Glen Torridon campaign sought to characterize the geology of the area, seek evidence of habitable environments, and document the onset of a potentially global climatic transition during the Hesperian era. Curiosity roved 5 km in total throughout Glen Torridon, from the Vera Rubin ridge to the northern margin of the Greenheugh pediment. Curiosity acquired samples from 11 drill holes during this campaign and conducted the first Martian thermochemolytic-based organics detection experiment with the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite. The lowest elevations within Glen Torridon represent a continuation of lacustrine Murray formation deposits, but overlying widespread cross bedded sandstones indicate an interval of more energetic fluvial environments and prompted the definition of a new stratigraphic formation in the Mount Sharp group called the Carolyn Shoemaker formation. Glen Torridon hosts abundant phyllosilicates yet remains compositionally and mineralogically comparable to the rest of the Mount Sharp group. Glen Torridon samples have a great diversity and abundance of sulfur-bearing organic molecules, which are consistent with the presence of ancient refractory organic matter. The Glen Torridon region experienced heterogeneous diagenesis, with the most striking alteration occurring just below the Siccar Point unconformity at the Greenheugh pediment. Results from the pediment campaign show that the capping sandstone formed within the Stimson Hesperian aeolian sand sea that experienced seasonal variations in wind direction.
The Curiosity Rover’s Exploration of Glen Torridon, Gale Crater, Mars: An Overview of the Campaign and Scientific Results
The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, explored the clay mineral-bearing Glen Torridon region for 1 Martian year between January 2019 and January 2021, including a short campaign onto the Greenheugh pediment. The Glen Torridon campaign sought to characterize the geology of the area, seek evidence of habitable environments, and document the onset of a potentially global climatic transition during the Hesperian era. Curiosity roved 5 km in total throughout Glen Torridon, from the Vera Rubin ridge to the northern margin of the Greenheugh pediment. Curiosity acquired samples from 11 drill holes during this campaign and conducted the first Martian thermochemolytic-based organics detection experiment with the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite. The lowest elevations within Glen Torridon represent a continuation of lacustrine Murray formation deposits, but overlying widespread cross bedded sandstones indicate an interval of more energetic fluvial environments and prompted the definition of a new stratigraphic formation in the Mount Sharp group called the Carolyn Shoemaker formation. Glen Torridon hosts abundant phyllosilicates yet remains compositionally and mineralogically comparable to the rest of the Mount Sharp group. Glen Torridon samples have a great diversity and abundance of sulfur-bearing organic molecules, which are consistent with the presence of ancient refractory organic matter. The Glen Torridon region experienced heterogeneous diagenesis, with the most striking alteration occurring just below the Siccar Point unconformity at the Greenheugh pediment. Results from the pediment campaign show that the capping sandstone formed within the Stimson Hesperian aeolian sand sea that experienced seasonal variations in wind direction.