# Presentation: 537676

## Mars Deep DrillExplore Active Hydrothermal Habitats

- MARS FUTURE MISSION STUDIES

- Sylvia Miller, John Essmiller, David Beaty
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institution of Technology
- January 16, 2004

## NOTE:  This is a product of a preliminary, representative mission study. 

- Contact:	 James F. Jordan
- 	 Manager, Pre-Projects and Advanced Studies Office
- 	 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institution of Technology
-    Email:   James.F.Jordan-Jr@jpl.nasa.gov
- OR
- Authors:	 Sylvia Miller (Sylvia.L.Miller@jpl.nasa.gov)
- 	 John Essmiller (John.C.Essmiller@jpl.nasa.gov)
- 	 David Beaty (David.W.Beaty@jpl.nasa.gov)

- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04

## Pathway Mapping

- Bold, red text indicates the case described in this package.

- Earliest Possible “Pathways-Compatible” Launch: May 2018

- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04

## Mars Deep Drill: Explore H-T Habitats (active) Science

- Science objectives [MEPAG #]
- Characterize the geology (stratigraphy, structure, chemistry) and geophysics of the shallow Martian crust at one site, particularly as it relates to interpreting present habitability
- Determine as a function of depth the geologic processes which have resulted in deposition, hydrothermal alteration, diagenesis, and tectonic modification of the Martian geologic record [18, 20, 63, 74, 79, 83, 92, 121, 134, 144]
- Investigate the thermal characteristics of the Martian subsurface [109]
- Obtain visual and spectroscopic images of the local landing site to establish context for the subsurface sample analysis and to determine the surface landing location [61]
- Search for past or present life in the subsurface at one site
- Determine the concentration of frozen and liquid water in the Martian subsurface, and its textural relationship to the non-volatile components  [ 3, 123, *56, *4, 11, 13, 15, 10]
- Evaluate the presence/absence of both fossil biosignatures and biosignatures for living organisms [4, 5, 11, 13]
- Record the meteorology at one site for at least one Martian year [34, 115, 126, 128]

- Candidate Instruments
- Drill (10 to 50m)
- Organics & Evolved Gas Analyzer
- Life Detection Suite
- Mineralogy/Chemistry Lab
- Microimager
- Stereo Panoramic Camera with Point Spectrometer
- Meteorological Station
- Drill camera
- Downhole
- Ice/Water Detector
- Borehole Camera
- Heat Flow with Thermal Experiments

- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04

## Mars Deep Drill: Explore H-T Habitats (active) Science Feed Forward

- Evidence of life would alter nation’s Mars program
- Confirmation of liquid water would support further search for life
- Understanding subsurface processes would allow us to more accurately predict :
- Subsurface life detection targets
- Possible resource availability for future human missions

- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04

## Mars Deep Drill: Explore H-T Habitats (active) MEPAG Investigations Addressed

- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04

## Mars Deep Drill: Explore H-T Habitats (active) Mission*

- Scenario
- Land at site thought to be an active hydrothermal deposit. Assume latitude between 60 S and 60 N. Altitude limited to +2.5 km.
- Drill to at least 10 to 50m with continuous or frequent downhole science (50m baselined here).
- Deliver samples to surface about every 1 m.
- All samples imaged. At least 50 samples analyzed.
- Drill rate varies with rock characteristics and power
- For this study, assumed 30 cm/hour average.
- 450 days allocated for drilling and sample analysis, including approx. 100 days of margin. Additional week of post-drilling subsurface thermal analysis.
- Trajectory
- Type I
- C3 of 9.2 km2/s2
- Flight time 8 months
- Arrival V ~3.3 km/s

- LV: Atlas V 521 or Delta IV 4450-14
- LV Capability 3750-3820 kg at this C3
- Need 5-m fairing
- Launch Date
- May 2018 (assumes 20 day launch period)
- Arrival Date
- January 2019
- Ls = 321 deg
- Geometry
- Direct entry
- Pinpoint landing (~100 m) (masses used here are from 2020 Present Life study; could optimize further for 2018)

- * Data relevant to 2018 launch opportunity, with pinpoint landing

- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04

## Mars Deep Drill: Explore H-T Habitats (active) Spacecraft*

- Performance attributes
- Based on MSL
- Hazard Detection and Avoidance
- Nuclear power source
- 2 MMRTGs generating 220 W total
- Pinpoint Landing (100 m)
- Payload Mass 180 kg
- Payload Infrastructure Mass 150 kg
- Autonomous drill operations
- Drill realignment and relocation capability
- All X-band lander
- Planetary Protection category IVb

- Flight system elements
- Lander
-  965 kg including payload
- Descent Stage
-  1080 kg wet
- Entry System
-  798 kg wet
- Carrier
-  407 kg wet
- Biobarrier
-  31 kg released at launch
- (additional 30 kg included in carrier mass)
- Total Launch Mass = ~3281 kg
- Margins
- 30% mass contingency
- 30% power contingency
- 14-16% (469-539 kg) launch margin (LV dependent)

- * Data relevant to 2018 launch opportunity, with pinpoint landing

- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04

## Mars Deep Drill: Explore H-T Habitats (active) Mass Table*

- *    Data relevant to 2018 launch opportunity, with pinpoint landing data from 2020 Present Life      study (could optimize further for 2018)

- **  The mass of the other half of the bioshield (30 kg) is included with the Carrier
- *** Using lower-performing LV

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- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04

## Mars Deep Drill: Explore H-T Habitats (active) Technology / Infrastructure*

- Critical Technology Needs [MEPAG#]
- Autonomous deep drilling with low mass and power needs [177, 178, 183, 184]
- Instruments
- Down hole, e.g., ice/water detector; thermal measurements
- Life-detection instrument(s)
- Sample Preparation and Distribution (SPAD) System advances
- Planetary Protection advances (IVb)
- Pinpoint landing [152]
- MSL
- Descent stage [*154*]
- Precision landing (5 x 10 km) [*154*]
- Hazard detection and avoidance [*153*]
- MMRTGs
- SPAD gen. 1
- Long-term survivability

- Infrastructure Need
- MTO follow-on with both transmit and receive X-band proximity link
- Technology cutoff FY14 (TRL 6)
- PDR Nov. 2014
- Candidate Technology Demos for Future Missions
- None identified to date
- Infrastructure feed forward
- None identified to date

- * Data relevant to 2018 launch opportunity, with pinpoint landing

- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04

## Definition of terms

_*Biosignature*_
- Any indicator of biology, whether fossil or living.
_*Extant life*_
- General reference to living species, which may also possess a fossil record.
_*Extinct life*_
- General reference to extinct species that only exist as fossils.
_*Fossil biosignature*_
- Fossil evidence of life, whether morphological, mineralogical or chemical.
_*Biosignatures for living organisms*_
- Evidence of either active metabolism or the unaltered cellular structures of extant organisms.

*Source:  Astrobiology Sub-Team of PSIG (2002)*

- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04

## Definition of terms

- An investigation which is able to identify evidence of life (by observation or measurement of a biosignature), but which cannot distinguish whether the life form is still alive or not.
_*Extant life investigation*_
- An extant life investigation is one which is able to demonstrate that an organism is either alive or recently dead (by observing biosignatures of living organisms), and to interpret some properties of its life processes.
_*Habitability*_
- The degree to which a geologic environment has or had the potential to support life of any form.

**Definition of terms**

*Source:  Astrobiology Sub-Team of PSIG (2002)*

- Pre-decisional draft, for planning and discussion purposes only

- 1/16/04