Mars atmospheric characterization is critical for exploring the planet. Future Mars missions require landing massive payloads to the surface with high accuracy. The accuracy of entry, descent and landing (EDL) of a payload is a major technical challenge for future Mars missions. Mars EDL depends on atmospheric conditions such as density, wind and dust as well as surface topography. A Mars orbit...

The evolution of Mars has been greatly influenced by temporal changes in its rheological structure, which may explain the difference in tectonics between Mars and Earth. Some previous studies have shown the rheological structures of Mars calculated from the flow law of rocks and the predicted thermal structure. However, the Peierls mechanism, which is the dominant deformation mechanism at relat...

As the duration of rover missions increases (the Mars Exploration Rovers are each currently beyond 1370 sols on the Martian surface), a wider variety of terrain types (slopes, soil types, etc) will usually be accessed. It is extremely important that a simulation environment used for flight systems has the necessary fidelity to model rover mobility on sloped, uneven terrain such as that encounte...

Coalbed methane (CBM) plays an important role in coal mining safety and natural gas production. In this work, The CBM potential of B2 seam in Parvadeh IV coal deposit, in central Iran, was evaluated using a combination of local regression and geostatistical methods. As there were 30 sparse methane sampling points in the Parvadeh IV coal deposit, no valid variogram was achieved for the methane c...

Introduction: Laboratory mixtures and spectral parameters were created to better characterize and detect kaolinite in the Mawrth Vallis region of Mars where Al-phyllosilicates, including kaolinite and montmorillonite, have been detected. We have prepared laboratory mixtures of the phyllosilicate minerals montmorillonite with kaolinite in seven intervals to better characterize spectra of Mars. K...

[1] This article addresses the correction for aerosol effects in near-simultaneous multiangle observations acquired by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In the targeted mode, CRISM senses the surface of Mars using 11 viewing angles, which allow it to provide unique information on the scattering properties of surface material...

Science and technology studies (STS) and critical cartography are both asking questions about the ontological fixity of maps and other scientific objects. This paper examines how a group of NASA computer scientists who call themselves The Mapmakers conceptualizes and creates maps in service of different commitments. The maps under construction are those of alien Mars, produced through partnersh...

Introduction: Measurements from the Viking Landers and Mars Pathfinder have shown that sulfur is a significant component of the surface of Mars [1]. However, one of the major and most surprising findings of the Mars Exploration Rovers [2] and the ESA Mars Express OMEGA instrument [3, 4, 5] is how widespread sulfate minerals, in the form of gypsum (CaSO 4

A committee of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) has reviewed and updated the description of Special Regions on Mars as places where terrestrial organisms might replicate (per the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy). This review and update was conducted by an international team (SR-SAG2) drawn from both the biological science and Mars exploration communities, focused on unders...