Macelwane Medal talk: Mars Exploration - A look forward

Abstract:

One of two neighbors in the Sun’s habitable zone, Mars offers a unique opportunity for exploration. Over 60% of the surface is >3.5 Gyr, offering a window into the first billion years of the evolution of a terrestrial planet, including processes such as early crust formation, early atmospheric evolution, and the effects of late heavy bombardment. The past decade of exploration by orbiters and rovers has revolutionized our understanding of the planet. Two of the most exciting discoveries are (1) the discovery of over a dozen aqueous, potentially habitable environments – lacustrine, hydrothermal, pedogenic – in the ancient Mars geologic record, delineated by geomorphology and mineralogy and (2) the presence of near-surface mid-latitude surface ice and recurring slope linae that may imply intermittent liquid brines in near-polar environments today.

Near-term funded future robotic exploration plans entail a caching rover, an orbiter focused on ice and potential seep modeling, and return of samples from one landing site. Recent findings and changes in the exploration landscape motivate a number of possible new possibilities and opportunties: (a) multiple exploration rovers to sample ancient Mars’ diverse, potentially habitable environments scouting to understand the planet’s history and for signs of life; (b) the importance of commercial space exploration efforts and private efforts to move beyond Earth.