MSL landing sites Options

[tuvas]

As there are some pictures being released from HiRISE of proposed MSL landing sites, I thought I'd give you what little I know about the process. As of the HiRISE team meeting a month ago or so, there were about 40 proposed sites to land MSL. These sites were prioritized, and are being photographed roughly in priority order. Each site requires a picture from each of the 3 main cameras (CTX, CRISM, and HiRISE) in their highest resolution in order to proceed. If it's determined that there can be a safe landing site, as well as interesting science targets, then they will advance to the next level, where I presume they will "wallpaper" the areas with HiRISE and CRISM (CTX, well, they get the whole landing ellipse in one shot, I think...). They likely will also photograph science areas near the proposed sites to look for interesting targets. After that, well, your guess is as good as mine. Note that none of this is official, but it's what I would expect. Also note that the landing site selection is still opened to new suggestions, the ones they have so far are not a complete list. The priority also doesn't mean anything right now other than they are the targets which will be photographed first, these priorities are still subject to change. But, well, I thought I'd send this out there for you all sink your teeth on, it really is quite interesting!

[James Sorenson]

Depending on what NASA's "Major" finding's that they plan to announce, and the final science results from the phoenix mission, Im wondering if Vastitas Borealis could be added to the allready 6 final landing sites for MSL?. Phoenix's landing site looks sofar VERY science rich, and worthy for exploration for another mission .

[vjkane]

Depending on what NASA's "Major" finding's that they plan to announce, and the final science results from the phoenix mission, Im wondering if Vastitas Borealis could be added to the allready 6 final landing sites for MSL?. Phoenix's landing site looks sofar VERY science rich, and worthy for exploration for another mission .

I believe that anything that far north would violate the minimum temperature limits.

[mcaplinger]

I believe that anything that far north would violate the minimum temperature limits.

True, though the limits are not entirely based on temperature. All sites must be within 45 degrees of the equator and meet other constraints. See http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/msl/Engineering.htm