A total traverse distance of up to approximately 10 km is possible. The purpose of this abstract is to introduce a rover mission model that shows in a quantitative fashion what science and traversing can be accomplished within the envelop of environmental and engineering constraints placed on operations. The mission model is a daily plan, using standard spreadsheet software, of rover activities that charts various aspects of rover operations for a given site. The power required to perform the tasks, the total power available, the amount of data acquired during the tasks, the amount of data stored, and data transmitted to Earth are tabulated each sol. Power availability is a strong constraint on mission operations and is highly dependent on the landing site latitude.
Landing occurs during the northern winter season.
This site exhibits a meandering channel system with evidence for modification by sapping processes. The site thus provides access to Noachian terrain and a channel system that may have produced spring-derived aqueous sedimentary rocks. With the landing site chosen, the total power availability curve for that latitude can be used to determine power available for mission operations. With the power available calculated, the power required for each scientific instrument in the Athena Payload and for rover traverses of different lengths was estimated. The time needed to complete scientific measurements, sampling, and rover traverses was also estimated.