New Mars Forums

Mark S

Banned

Registered: 2002-04-11

Posts: 343

Re: 2007 Mars Scout

With little fanfare, NASA selected four candidates for the 2007 Mars Scout missions.  The most exciting of the bunch is SCIM, which will bring a sample of Mars's atmosphere back to earth.

I'm a little disappointed that some more ambitious concepts (Mars glider, Mars balloon, or an orbiting Synthetic Aperture Radar) weren't picked.  But the new crop of missions still represents an inexpensive new way of exploring Mars.

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"I'm not much of a 'hands-on' evil scientist."--Dr. Evil, "Goldmember"

Mark S

Banned

Registered: 2002-04-11

Posts: 343

Re: 2007 Mars Scout

Space.com has a wonderful article explaining the four Mars Scout concepts, and after reading it I'm much more excited than before.

I'm pretty enthusiastic about Phoenix because it uses the 2001 Mars Lander, and it may help us to better categorize the chemistry of Martian soil in regions where liquid water may exist.  ARES is pretty cool, too, but I have questions about the effectiveness of unpowered gliders at surveying large land areas.

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"I'm not much of a 'hands-on' evil scientist."--Dr. Evil, "Goldmember"

Phobos

Member

Registered: 2002-01-02

Posts: 1,103

Re: 2007 Mars Scout

I like the idea of that orbiter (forget it's name) that would check for signs of life by analyzing light in the atmosphere as the sun sets/rises.  It seems like this would be a more comprehensive way of looking for life than to just study a little tiny patch of the planet or a few dust particles even though you couldn't get as detailed in your analysis as a lander could.

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To achieve the impossible you must attempt the absurd

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: 2007 Mars Scout

*Looks like this is the appropriate place to submit the following ("Mars 2003 Missions and beyond"):

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mars_2003_05.html

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: 2007 Mars Scout

I like the idea of that orbiter (forget it's name) that would check for signs of life by analyzing light in the atmosphere as the sun sets/rises.  It seems like this would be a more comprehensive way of looking for life than to just study a little tiny patch of the planet or a few dust particles even though you couldn't get as detailed in your analysis as a lander could.

*I'd like to hear more about this, if anyone has additional info.  Thanks.

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

MarsGuy2012

Banned

Registered: 2003-01-22

Posts: 122

Re: 2007 Mars Scout

Well, if NASA is listening to me in here - I vote for the SCIM.  A sample of the atmosphere may not be as interesting as a lander and a rover or as practical as a communications relay satellite but it has a lot of future value.  It will set a few precedents that other missions can't:

1.  As the first sample return mission it will show that sample returns are easy enough.  Even if this one is a totally different engineering problem than a return from the surface, it will still be essentially the same thing in many people's minds (including many in congress).  This will hasten a surface sample return.
2.  If there are no signs of life in the sample then it will be assumed that there is even less of a chance of life being on the surface than previously thought.  This will quell the fears of the back contamination crowd.  If life is found in the samples and it is harmless this will also sooth there worries.  These two situations will both bring a surface sample return a lot faster.  If they find harmful lifeforms in the sample then who cares - we'll all be wiped out by the Martian plague! :;):
3.  The sample will give us a precise knowledge of the atmospheric content for our fuel production when we send human missions.

Vote for SCIM - He's gunna clean up this town! 

Yang Liwei Rocket

Member

Registered: 2004-03-03

Posts: 993

Re: 2007 Mars Scout

Sample returns are not impossible, we already have the technologies. Europe have been making some comet chaser designs that will return samples to earth, and the Russians Luna and Lunokhod returned with samples from the moon. A manned mission would be much better.

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'first steps are not for cheap, think about it...
did China build a great Wall in a day ?' ( Y L R newmars forum member )

EuroLauncher

Member

From: Europe

Registered: 2005-10-19

Posts: 299

Re: 2007 Mars Scout

In 2011 NASA will launch the next Mars Scout. A selection process will choose one finalist.
MARVEL is short for "Mars Volcanic Emission and Life"
http://www.fourth-millennium.net/missio … -2011.html
http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/M … t2007.html
ARES
It's full name is "Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey of Mars". This proposal was one of the final four but wasn't selected for 2007. Perhaps it will try again in 2011.

and there's Phoenix and SCIM