MSL Landing Sites Refined to Two Candidates

The panel in charge with establishing the location where the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity will land has refined the list of candidates down to two entries. The announcement was made on Wednesday, July 6.

Over the past couple of years, experts have been working diligently towards browsing the list of proposed landing sites. They assessed the advantages and drawbacks of all these locations, and gradually diminished the list for four candidates, before the last meeting.

Gale Crater – which some analysts consider a favorite – and Eberswalde Crater are the final two selections the panel made. By the end of the month, the final MSL destination will be announced.

Scientists who monitor the selection process say that both locations have a lot going for them, in terms of the potential scientific return they may provide. At the same time, both have few drawbacks, so the decision is going to be a tough one to make.

The landing sites that were eliminated following the new meeting are the Holden Crater, and Mawrth Vallis, which experts believe is the remnant of an ancient flood channel that developed billions of years ago. At that time, Mars may have still had liquid water on its surface.

“We are thrilled to go to either one of these landing sites. It's like two different flavors of ice cream – do you like chocolate or vanilla on Mars? So we go back and forth a lot,” said expert John Grotzinger.

He made the announcement about the new selection during a press conference held yesterday at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida. Grotzinger holds an appointment as an MSL project scientist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in Pasadena.

The reason why Eberswalde Crater is so interesting is that it may very well be the fossilized remnant of an ancient river delta. The Holden site is similar in many ways, but in the end “Eberswalde has one or two extra attributes that set it apart,” Grotzinger explained.

Gale Crater is a prime target for observation because it features a 3-mile (5-kilometer) mountain at its center. If Curiosity manages to trek up its slopes, it will be able to analyze rock layers spanning hundred of millions of years, Space reports.

“Those are chapters in the history of the environmental evolution of Mars,” Grotzinger said. A clear decision between Gale and Eberswalde will be made this month, after experts compare the benefits of each location once more.