Q & A With Steve Squyres, Coming in September Options

[djellison]

As previously reported, there's a great lineup of speakers at the BAA out of London meeting on September 3rd - including MER Principle Investigator Steve Squyres.

Steve has kindly offered some of his time so that we can meet up and do a Q'n'A based on questions submitted by you lot.

Obviously - there will be loads and loads of questions you want to ask and only so much time in which to ask them - however - I'll do what I can to pick as many of the best as I can squeeze in in the time available.

There will be a write up here, obviously, and I will try and record it as an MP3 and post that here as well.

Steve's book 'Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity and the Exploration of the Red Planet' is published next week - and a signed copy will be winging its way to the person submitting the best question! *

If you have questions you want me to pitch to Steve, then drop me an email to doug@rlproject.com with the subject SS Q&A

As a heads up - please take note of the other speakers at the BAA meeting - and if you have specific questions you'd like asked of them - I'll do my best to try and get them in after their presentations at the meeting. The last two ( Profs Greeley and Muller ) are on the Sunday and the Friday respectively, but I will be trying to get down to those presentations as well - but no promises.

-Prof. Carolyn Porco, Principal investigator, Cassini imaging system
-Prof. John Zarnecki, Principal investigator, Huygens surface science
-Prof. Mike A'Hearn, Principal Investigator, Deep Impact,
-Prof. Ron Greeley, Scientist on several planetary missions, Chairman of NASA & NAS Mars exploration panel
-Prof. Jan-Peter Muller, Scientist on Mars Express hi-resolution camera team, University College London.

Doug
* 'best' to be picked by SS and myself on the day

[CosmicRocker]

It just occurred to me that since I sent Doug my questions via the email address he posted, they were not publically posted. Since we are discussing the submitted questions, perhaps I should post my two questions here.
Opportunity Question
Many people in the UnmannedSpaceflight forum see the Etched Terrain as a wasteland that Opportunity needs to pass through on the way to Victoria Crater. Some of us believe the Etched Terrain will be a treasure trove of science targets that will perhaps keep Opportunity busy for the rest of its already amazing life. Now that you are seeing the Etched Terrain through the rover's eyes, what are your thoughts on this new terrain?
Specifically:
• What different kinds geologic investigations do you hope to perform there that can't be performed in impact crater exposures?
and
• What do you expect the topography to be like as Opportunity heads further into this terrain?

Spirit Question
The fascinating rock textures and geochemistry we have observed as Spirit has trekked upward in the Columbia Hills have fascinated many of us. Do you have enough data to confidently determine if the rocks were created by volcanic or impact processes, and if so, which would that be.