Final MSL Landing Site Candidates Established

Next year, the American space agency plans to launch the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover towards the Red Planet, in hopes of getting it there in 2012. Though a large number of instruments and other components that are supposed to go on the new machine were already created, the mission control team has yet to decide precisely where to land the robot. They are currently considering four final candidates, all of which carry their ups and downs, Space reports.

One of the things that make mission planners very happy is the accuracy of the new delivery system that will carry the MSL to the surface of the planet. That is to say, when previous Martian missions were set up, they usually needed to land in areas that were not covered by natural obstacles, such as craters, rocks, hills and so on. The landing zone for Viking had, for example, a length of no less than 190 miles (300 kilometers). Over the years, as landing technologies improved, it became easier for space agencies to set down additional robots on Mars.

As the size requirements for prospective landing sites diminished, it became possible to deploy missions in places that were clearly off-limits before. Spirit and Opportunity's error radius, for instance, spanned 60 miles (100 km), but the delivery method used by the Sky Crane system to deliver the MSL rover ensures that an areas just 12 miles (20 kilometers) is needed as insurance. “It opens up a lot more possibilities of squeezing the ellipse within the terrain and closer to features of interest,” explains Curiosity deputy project scientist Ashwin Vasavada, who is based at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California.

“Everybody's wishing we had the perfect site where we could sort of do it all. Really there are strong supporters behind each of these four sites for different reasons,” he explains, adding that one of the primary considerations for the future site will be the duration the rover will have to drive before it exits the safe zone. The machine, called Curiosity, cannot afford to spend in excess of one year driving towards its destinations, without reaching. The final decision will be taken next May or June, scientists say.