At the same time, the landing site should not exceed a certain slope, otherwise the vehicle would topple over while attempting to land. It automatically produces maps of favorable landing sites, using the available data on Mars’ geology and terrain, as well as a list of scientific priorities and engineering constraints that a user can specify.Īs an example, a user can stipulate that a rover should land in a site where it can explore certain geological targets, such as open-basin lakes.
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Now researchers at MIT have developed a software tool for computer-aided discovery that could help mission planners make these decisions. These data, though growing with each mission, are patchy and incomplete. Finding a suitable landing site therefore involves piecing together information collected over the years by past Mars missions.
But engineers may find that those sites are too steep for a vehicle to land safely, or the locations may not receive enough sunlight to power the vehicle’s solar panels once it has landed. These committees typically spend several years weighing a mission’s science objectives against a vehicle’s engineering constraints, to identify sites that are both scientifically interesting and safe to land on.įor instance, a mission’s science team may want to explore certain geological sites for signs of water, life, and habitability. Selecting a landing site for a rover headed to Mars is a lengthy process that normally involves large committees of scientists and engineers.
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