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# First Announcement First Announcement First Announcement

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First Landing Site Workshop

####  For the

2009 Mars Science Laboratory

May 31^st^-June 2, 2006

Pasadena, CA

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# First Announcement First Announcement First Announcement

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Dear Colleagues:

You are invited to participate in the First Landing Site Workshop for
the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover mission to Mars. The
workshop will be held May 31^st^ through June 2nd, 2006, in Pasadena,
CA.

**An Overview of Workshop Objectives:**

The purpose of the Landing Site workshop is to identify and evaluate
potential landing sites best suited to achieving stated mission science
objectives within the constraints imposed by engineering requirements,
planetary protection requirements, and the necessity of ensuring a safe
landing. A NASA-appointed Landing Site Steering Committee and the Mars
Science Laboratory Project will use the results of the workshop as the
basis for narrowing the list of potential landing sites under
consideration. Community consensus with respect to high priority sites
will also be solicited. In addition, the workshop will provide a means
for identifying potential landing sites as targets for imaging by the
MGS, Odyssey, MRO, and perhaps other orbital assets. Note: the number of
potential landing sites is high because MSL entry, descent, and landing
capabilities enable a small landing error ellipse (20km diameter), high
landing site altitude (\<2km), and wide latitudes (±60°).

**Mission Science Objectives:**

The primary scientific goal of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is to
assess the present and past habitability of the martian environments
accessed by the mission. Habitability is defined as the potential of an
environment to support life, as we know it. Such assessments require
integration of a wide variety of chemical, physical, and geological
observations. In particular, MSL will assess the biological potential of
the regions accessed, characterize their geology and geochemistry at all
appropriate spatial scales, investigate planetary processes that
influence habitability, including the role of water, and characterize
the broad spectrum of surface radiation. To enable these investigations,
MSL will carry a diverse payload capable of making environmental
measurements, remotely sensing the landscape around the rover,
performing in situ analyses of rocks and soils, and acquiring,
processing, and ingesting samples of rocks and soils into onboard
laboratory instruments. A candidate landing site should contain evidence
suggestive of a past or present habitable environment. To the extent
that it can be determined with existing data, the geological, chemical,
and/or biological evidence for habitability should be expected to be
preserved for, accessible to, and interpretable by the MSL
investigations.

An overview of the MSL mission can viewed at
<http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/overview>. A summary of NASA's Mars
exploration strategy is at
<http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mep/mslides/index.html> and additional
information can be viewed at
http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/reports/index.html. Web tools for visualizing
and analyzing relevant Mars data as well as an archive of previously
proposed and selected landing sites are available at
<http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/>and
<http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/>, which also includes a web based GIS
interface for relevant Mars data. Web sites for MSL landing site
selection activities are <http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/>
and the USGS PIGWAD site http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/msl, where workshop
announcements, program, and abstracts can be accessed along with more
detailed descriptions of the MSL mission, science objectives and
investigations, and instruments.

**Planetary Protection Considerations:**

The MSL project has been assigned to Category IVc by NASA's Planetary
Protection Office with constraints on the landing site and regions
accessed from it. Specifically, MSL is limited to landing sites not
known to have extant water or water-ice within one meter of the surface.
Later access to "special regions" defined in NPR 8020.12C (regions where
terrestrial organisms are likely to propagate, or interpreted to have a
high potential for the existence of extant martian life forms) is
permitted only in the vertical direction through use of sterilized
sampling hardware. The above are general guidelines for site selection;
compliance of specific landing sites and nearby regions will be
determined through discussions with the Planetary Protection Office
during the site selection process.

**Mission Engineering Constraints:**

Because the ability to ensure a successful landing for MSL is paramount,
consideration of landing sites must include comprehensive assessment of
limitations imposed by mission engineering constraints. Although these
constraints continue to be established and refined, a description of
preliminary values related to allowable locations, elevation, and
surface properties follows.

The entry, descent and landing scenario employed by the Mars Science
Laboratory (MSL) flight system places engineering constraints on what
would be considered a safe landing site of high scientific interest. The
dominant considerations in landing site placement are latitude,
elevation and the landing ellipse size. The MSL flight system is capable
of landing in a circle of 20 km diameter, within which everywhere must
be safe for landing and roving. This circle can be placed anywhere on
Mars that is below +2 km MOLA elevation and within 60° latitude of the
equator (60°N to 60°S). Steady state horizontal and vertical winds and
wind gusts are a concern during descent and landing, so areas with
potentially high winds will need to be compared with landing system
tolerance during development. The landing system uses a radar altimeter,
so the entire landing site must be radar reflective. Slopes at long and
intermediate (2-5 km and 20 m) wavelength could negatively impact the
altimeter, requiring slopes over 2-5 km length scales \<3° and slopes
over 20 m length scales \<15°. Short wavelength slopes affect landing
stability and trafficability, requiring slopes over 5 m length scales
\<15°. Rocks higher than 0.6 m are a problem for landing, requiring
areas with intermediate or lower rock abundance. The landing surface
must be load bearing and trafficable and so must not be dominated by
dust. Persistent cold surface temperatures and CO~2~ frost will
negatively impact performance. These latter three considerations will
likely eliminate areas with very low thermal inertia and very high
albedo. Surface characteristics (short wavelength slope, rocks and dust)
of a trafficable surface are similar to those required for safe landing,
except the small landing ellipse and long traverse capability allow the
possibility of considering \"go to\" sites. These sites have a safe
landing site adjacent to the target of science interest and require
traversing outside of the landing ellipse to sample the materials of
highest interest. In this case, the area that must be traversed to get
into the region of highest science interest (required to accomplish the
science objectives of the mission) must be trafficable from anywhere
within the ellipse. All of the values for the parameters discussed will
be refined during continuing design and development of the spacecraft,
with updates posted on the web site, as will a more detailed discussion
of these constraints. We expect the first posting around February 1,
2006 at <http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/> and the USGS PIGWAD
site: http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/msl

All persons planning to participate in the workshop should review the
science, engineering, and planetary protection constraints carefully, as
only those landing sites that meet these constraints will be accepted
for presentation at the workshop.

**How to participate:**

All members of the scientific community are encouraged to participate in
this important activity. Persons wishing to make a presentation at the
workshop are urged to carefully review the science objectives and
engineering and planetary protection constraints at
<http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/> and at the USGS PIGWAD web
site noted above.

Most of the workshop will be devoted to submitted papers describing: (1)
the overall types of sites for MSL based on associated scientific and
programmatic rationale and suitability for safe landing and roving; and
(2) individual landing sites on Mars and their scientific merit and
safety. Individuals must prepare an abstract (no longer than one page
using standard LPSC abstract format) summarizing their proposed topic or
site. Talks advocating an individual site must summarize the science
merits and demonstrate that the proposed location satisfies the mission
science, planetary protection, and engineering requirements. A clear
statement of the rationale for continued consideration as a possible
landing site should also be included. A program will be prepared from
the submitted abstracts and will be posted along with logistical
information in late April, 2006.

**Abstracts (no longer than one page using standard LPSC abstract
format) are due by March 28^th^ 2006** and should be submitted
electronically via: <http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/>.
Detailed instructions on abstract format and submission will also be
posted at this web site in February, 2006.

### Logistics for the Workshop:

The workshop will be held in the vicinity of JPL in Pasadena, CA, and
there will not be a registration fee. In order to get a sense of the
number of people likely to attend the workshop, interested individuals
should indicate their intent to attend via
<http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/> by April 1^st^, 2006.
Although we anticipate mostly oral presentations, there may also be
poster sessions. Additional logistical information about the workshop
will be distributed to the community in subsequent announcements and
will be posted at: <http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/> and
http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/msl

Input from the science community is critical to identification of
optimal landing sites for the MSL. We look forward to your involvement
in these activities!

Regards,

John Grant Matt Golombek

Co-Chairs, Mars Landing Site Steering Committee