Mars Sample Return Options

[monitorlizard]

I'll give it one more try,Phil. My best guess would be something from The First (or Second, or Third) International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration. The First was held in 1998, the Second in 2000, and the Third in 2003.
The abstracts were published by LPI and may be available online, but are definitely available in print (First and Second) and CD-ROM (Third) form. Other than that, my only other guess would be an LPSC abstract. Good luck.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Indeed, LPI has a few books on Mars Sample Return.

[gndonald]

The Beyond Apollo weblog has been posting a series of articles on Mars Sample return missions, the latest article covers a 1976 proposal to collect a sample of ice from the Martian South pole using modified Vikings.

See: Beyond Apollo: Mars Polar Ice Sample Return (1976).

[Phil Stooke]

I should add that David Portree is trying to help me find that missing traverse map, but I've come to the conclusion I was confusing it with one of the others in the Mars Landing Site Catalog, possibly one at Durius Valles (site 079 in the Catalog). I was just so sure I had seen it, but that is, increasingly, a bad sign!

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Here is an example of a set of perhaps little known traverse suggestions dating from the Mars Surveyor 2001 planning phase. Mars Surveyor 2001 was originally going to land an Athena rover similar to MER, which might travel a few tens of km. At the first landing site workshop, these traverses were suggested as well as lots of other sites without specific traverses. Then the mission was descoped and the rover would be similar to Sojourner with a maximum range of about 1 km. Then it was cancelled, and eventually the spacecraft flew as Phoenix, without a rover.

Phil

[vikingmars]

Full inline quote removed. Hey - it was Phil's idea. - ADMIN

...And I like the "Thyra" crater site, because it's a few km away from our Columbia Hills in Gusev crater !

[Phil Stooke]

Every time I look at that place I want to call it 'Thyra', but I have to force myself to correct it - it is officially 'Thira'.

(PS - you'll get into trouble for that big quote!)

Phil

[pospa]

These days, 16.-17.6. 2011 is 24th MEPAG meeting taking place in Lisboa, Portugal (I guess first time out of USA).
Another clear sign of NASA taking European guys more into the club.

At least 5 presentations about MSR are available today already - scientific objectives, sample size, number of samples, sampling priorities and strategies, etc., etc.