IPB

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

"thor" Mars Mission To Seek Underground Water
RNeuhaus
post Jan 26 2006, 03:46 PM
Post #1


Senior Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 1636
Joined: 9-May 05
From: Lima, Peru
Member No.: 385



A new, low-cost mission concept to Mars would slam a projectile into the planet's surface in an attempt to look for subsurface water ice.

"I'm interested in exploring mid-latitude areas of Mars that look like they're made of snow and ice," Phil Christensen, the project's principal investigator, told SpaceDaily.com.

Christensen, of Arizona State University, and colleagues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, are proposing a mission called THOR – for Tracing Habitability, Organics and Resources – as part of NASA's Mars Scout program.

Like last year's Deep Impact mission to comet Tempel 1, THOR aims to ram a projectile at high speed into the surface of Mars while a host spacecraft remains in orbit and observes the impact and its aftermath. If approved by NASA, the mission would launch in 2011.


That mission would be after MSL's mission. Now it is still a proposal smile.gif It would cost around US$ 450 millions

More details: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/THOR_Mar...ound_Water.html

Rodolfo
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
 
Start new topic
Replies
nprev
post Jan 28 2006, 06:20 AM
Post #2


Merciless Robot
****

Group: Admin
Posts: 8783
Joined: 8-December 05
From: Los Angeles
Member No.: 602



biggrin.gif ...I actually was thinking of an old Mother Goose & Grimm strip captioned "Suddenly, Thorro realized that he should change his name" as he struggled to carve "TH"...

In all theriousness, though, Thor is an exciting concept. BTW, will Phoenix or MSL carry a seismometer? I'm guessing that an impact of this magnitude might be enough to yield at least a little core/mantle structural data, especially since it will be so predictable... huh.gif


--------------------
A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

Posts in this topic
- RNeuhaus   "thor" Mars Mission To Seek Underground Water   Jan 26 2006, 03:46 PM
- - Marz   QUOTE (RNeuhaus @ Jan 26 2006, 09:46 AM)THOR ...   Jan 26 2006, 05:06 PM
|- - gpurcell   QUOTE (Marz @ Jan 26 2006, 05:06 PM)When all ...   Jan 26 2006, 05:09 PM
- - djellison   I suppose you have MRO there to image the crater a...   Jan 26 2006, 05:12 PM
- - Chmee   Strange that this would be named THOR since that w...   Jan 26 2006, 05:18 PM
|- - MahFL   And what would the chances of say hitting MSL by a...   Jan 26 2006, 06:03 PM
- - Canopus   The search for methane will also be included. Hop...   Jan 26 2006, 06:07 PM
- - RNeuhaus   Hope that the impactor would make a crater close e...   Jan 26 2006, 07:05 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   The "Thor" name applied to both projects...   Jan 26 2006, 11:04 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Jan 26 2006, 11:04 PM)It...   Jan 27 2006, 03:59 PM
- - djellison   Thor-Able was a precursor to the modern Delta LV...   Jan 26 2006, 11:08 PM
|- - mchan   QUOTE (djellison @ Jan 26 2006, 03:08 PM)Thor...   Jan 27 2006, 02:19 AM
|- - exobioquest   I would rather see a mars atmospheric sample retur...   Jan 27 2006, 02:23 AM
|- - nprev   QUOTE (exobioquest @ Jan 26 2006, 07:23 PM)I ...   Jan 27 2006, 02:29 AM
|- - exobioquest   Wait a minute isn't there a free return orbit ...   Jan 27 2006, 03:25 AM
|- - dvandorn   QUOTE (nprev @ Jan 26 2006, 08:29 PM)Hmm. Yes...   Jan 27 2006, 04:09 AM
- - lyford   the thunder god went for a ride upon his favorite ...   Jan 27 2006, 05:50 AM
- - nprev   ...I actually was thinking of an old Mother Goose ...   Jan 28 2006, 06:20 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   No seismometer on Phoenix or MSL; but there curren...   Jan 29 2006, 03:41 AM
|- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Jan 28 2006, 10:41 PM)No...   Jan 29 2006, 03:48 AM
|- - nprev   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Jan 28 2006, 08:41 PM)No...   Jan 29 2006, 06:21 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Jan 27 2006, 03:59 PM)...   Jan 29 2006, 03:43 AM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Jan 29 2006, 03:43 AM)La...   Jan 30 2006, 06:40 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   The inability of the Viking 2 seismometer to detec...   Jan 29 2006, 04:15 AM
- - edstrick   Note that the Viking seismometer <VL-2> did ...   Jan 29 2006, 11:12 AM
- - edstrick   Oh.. and Phoenix is not expected to have an extend...   Jan 29 2006, 11:18 AM
- - hal_9000   opera mini test   Jan 30 2006, 07:48 PM
- - djellison   Martian penetrators I can understand, a couple of ...   Jan 30 2006, 08:02 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   QUOTE (djellison @ Jan 30 2006, 09:02 PM)Mart...   Jan 30 2006, 09:20 PM
- - djellison   Perhaps you would have to have some sort of small ...   Jan 30 2006, 09:35 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   QUOTE (djellison @ Jan 30 2006, 10:35 PM)Perh...   Jan 30 2006, 09:42 PM
|- - helvick   The news reports on this talk about a 250kg impact...   Jan 30 2006, 11:42 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   The Europa Penetrator story, as I hinted earlier, ...   Jan 31 2006, 12:50 AM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Jan 31 2006, 12:50 AM)Bu...   Jan 31 2006, 01:33 AM
|- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Jan 30 2006, 07:50 PM)Bu...   Jan 31 2006, 02:53 PM
- - RNeuhaus   More details about the Thor's project extracte...   Jan 31 2006, 03:09 AM
|- - Bob Shaw   A THOR-style impact mission might be the best reas...   Jan 31 2006, 10:43 AM
||- - helvick   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ Jan 31 2006, 11:43 AM)Why n...   Jan 31 2006, 12:13 PM
||- - paxdan   QUOTE (helvick @ Jan 31 2006, 12:13 PM)We dea...   Jan 31 2006, 12:34 PM
||- - Bob Shaw   QUOTE (paxdan @ Jan 31 2006, 01:34 PM)two oth...   Jan 31 2006, 12:45 PM
||- - dvandorn   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ Jan 31 2006, 06:45 AM)It wo...   Jan 31 2006, 03:02 PM
|- - djellison   QUOTE (RNeuhaus @ Jan 31 2006, 03:09 AM)The p...   Jan 31 2006, 11:04 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Jan 31 2006, 01:33 AM)...   Jan 31 2006, 12:55 PM
- - Analyst   I can't see a lot of science coming from this ...   Jan 31 2006, 02:17 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ Jan 31 2006, 02:53 PM)Wo...   Jan 31 2006, 04:33 PM
- - djellison   "This Crater © B.Moomaw 2018"   Jan 31 2006, 04:39 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   That would be even more appropriate, since I'v...   Jan 31 2006, 09:22 PM


Reply to this topicStart new topic

 



RSS Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 08:04 PM
RULES AND GUIDELINES
Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT
Images posted on UnmannedSpaceflight.com may be copyrighted. Do not reproduce without permission. Read here for further information on space images and copyright.

OPINIONS AND MODERATION
Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators.
SUPPORT THE FORUM
Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member.