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"thor" Mars Mission To Seek Underground Water
RNeuhaus
post Jan 26 2006, 03:46 PM
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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
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_*
post Jan 29 2006, 04:15 AM
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The inability of the Viking 2 seismometer to detect any provable quake at all over 2 1/2 years was indeed the reason why the US put the kibosh on seismometers since then. It made it clear that Mars' seismicity level was low enough that you need a highly sensitive seismometer directly coupled to the ground, with a low profile to avoid wind noises -- that is, a lander or package specifically designed for the purpose. Also, you must lay at least two or three down simultaneously to locate any epicenters -- and, except for the 2003 rovers (which were obviously unsuitable), all Mars landers since the Vikings have been singletons except for the disastrous Russian attempt to set up network science (including five seismometers) with Mars 96. (The original design for Mars Pathfinder DID call for the rover to deposit a tiny seismometer on the surface -- linked to the lander by a cable -- as well as for a neutron spectrometer on the rover; but those two instruments very quickly got the boot due to weight problems.)

The new US Mars plan calls for a Mars science network mission in 2020; but there was some interest at MEPAG in trying to advance it to 2016 (an idea I aftually oppose for reasons I won't go into here). And of course it's possible that the 2011 or 2018 Mars Scout might consist of a network of very small seismic landers, or that the ESA might succeed in gradually laying down a network. (The Network Science Mission would also seem an obvious choice for an international effort, and MEPAG has suggested just that.)
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- 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


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