2nd Landing Site Workshop for the 2020 Mars Rover mission


  Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Title Downloads Author
8:30-9:40 am Introduction
Welcome, Opening Remarks, Logistics (10 mins)     M. Meyer, J. Grant, M. Golombek 
The process for selecting the Mars 2020 mission landing site (15 mins)      J. Grant and M. Golombek 
2020 Mission Project Status (15 mins)      M. Wallace and J. McNamee 
2020 Mission Science Objectives, Site Evaluation Criteria, and Caching Considerations (30 mins)      K. Farley 
09:40-12:15 pm Mars 2020 Project and Program Engineering Assessment:
Process Overview and Schedule (5 mins)      A. Chen 
Terrain Characterization, Approach, and Results (20 mins)      M. Golombek and J. Ashley 
Landing Safety Assessment - EDL, Atmosphere, and Terrain Charactgerization(45 mins)      A. Chen, M. Mischna, et al. 
Surface Productivity Assessment (45 mins)         J. Trosper and M. Heverly 
Planetary Protection (10 mins)      D. Bernard 
Landing Site Considerations Related to the Potential Sample Retrieval and Launch Mission (10 mins)      A. Nicholas 
Summary Assessment of Top Nine Sites from First 2020 Landing Site Workshop (10 mins)      A. Chen and J. Trosper 
Discussion (10 mins)     
1:25-2:20 pm Overview Science Talks:
Input from Attendees at the AbSciCon and MetSoc Conferences (20 mins)      D. Beaty and L. Hays 
Recurring Slope Lineae Near 202 Candidate Landing Sites (15 mins)      A. McEwen, C. Dundas, et al. 
Crater Count Constraints on Radiolysis of Complex Organic Matter at 2020 Candidiate Sites (10 mins)  E. Kite 
Importance of Scarp Retreat in Creating Recent Exposures (10 mins)      M. Rice 
Prior Landing Sites and Final Candidate Sites: (2:20-3:50 pm)
Mars Landing + 50 Years: Lessons from Social Decisions and Selection of the First Viking Landing, Considerations for Mars 2020 Re-Visit (20 mins)      W. Farrell 
Gusev Crater: A Geologically Diverse, Engineering Safe Site with Evidence for Past Habitable Environments and Potential Biosignatures (20 mins)  S. Ruff, J. Rice, and A. Longo 
Phases of Erosion and deposition recorded in Holden crater outcrops (20 mins)      R. Irwin, J. Wray, and J. Grant 
Discussion (30 mins)     
3:50-5:40 pm Habitable Environments in Ancient Aqueous Settings 1/strong>
Eberswalde Crater: Habitability and Geologic Diversity (20 mins)      M. Rice 
Deltaic Deposits in Magong Crater, Xanthe Terra (20 mins)      E. Hauber, K. Kinch, et al. 
Exploring the Volcanic, Alteration and Fluvio-Lacustrine History of Early Mars at the Jezero Crater Paleolake (20 mins)      T. Goudge, B. Ehlmann, et al. 
Eridania Basin: Studying the Sed. Sequence of an Ancient Paleolake with the Mars 2020 rover (20 mins)      M.Pajola, S. Rossato, et al. 
Discussion (30 mins)     
5:40 pm End of Day 1
  Wednesday, August 5, 2015 8:30 am Pacific
Title Downloads Author
8:30-10:20 am Habitable Environments in Acient Aqueous Settings II
Investigation of Layered Sediments and Clays at a Proposed Landing Site in Ladon Valles (20 mins)  C. Weitz, J. Bishop, and J. Grant 
Exploring Hadriacus Palus: A Record of Diverse Geologic Process in the Cratered Highlands (20 mins)      J. Skinner, C. Fortezzo, et al. 
From Primitive Martian Crust to Sulfate-Rich Sediments in Coprates Chasma, Valles Marineris (20 mins)      C. Quantin, B. Bultel and J. Carter 
Accessible Regions of Interest within Southwestern Melas Basin for Exploration and Sample Collection by the 2020 Mars Rover (20 mins)      R. Williams, C. Weitz, et al. 
Discussion (30 mins)     
10:20-12:00 pm Candidate Landing Sites NW of Isidis Basin I
Serpentinization Sites - An Additional Criteria to Select Samples for Return to Earth (10 mins)  B. Bruner 
Deciphering the Spectral Evidence for Serpentinization of Martian Basement Materials (20 mins)  A. Brown, C. Beck, et al. 
Ancient Crustal Stratigraphy in the Nili Fossae Trough: Clays, Carbonates, Impacts, and Volcanics (20 mins)      K. Cannon, J. Mustard, et al. 
Southern Nili Fossae Trough: Examination of in situ Carbonate-Bearing Layers and Habitability in an Ancient Hydrothermal Environment (20 mins)      C. Viviano-Beck, A. Brown, et al. 
Discussion (30 mins)     
1:15-2:45 pm Candidate Landing Sites NW of Isidis Basin II
Nili Fossae Carbonates: Solving the Carbonate PUzzle and Examining Olivine from Primitive Melts or Mantle (20 mins)      B. Ehlmann, C. Edwards, et al. 
Multiple Habitable Environments across the Noachian-Hesperian Environmental Transition: Phyllosilicates, Carbonate, Sulfates, and Multiple Igneous Unites in Stratigraphy at the Isidis-Syrtis Major Contact (20 mins)      J. Mustard, B. Ehlmann, et al. 
Pinpointing Habitability in Nili Patera's Hydrothermal Field (20 mins)      J. Skok, P. Fawdon, et al. 
Discussion (30 mins)     
2:45-4:35 pm Mawrth Vallis and Vicinity 
Mawrth Vallis as a Candidate Landing Site for Mars 2020 (20 mins)      D. Loizeau 
Oyama Crater as a Candidate Landing Site for Mars 2020 (20 mins)      D. Loizeau 
Geology of McLaughlin Crater: Ancient Lacustrine Sediments with Stratigraphic Control and High Biomarker Preservation Potential (20 mins)      J. Michalski, and P. Niles 
From Noachian to Amazonian, Clays, Sediments, and Igneous Rocks in Oxia Planum (20 mins)      P. Thollot, C. Quantin, and J. Carter 
Discussion (30 mins)     
4:35-5:35 pm Chloride and Sites
The Long-Term Preservation Potential of Organics in Martian Halite (20 mins)      M. Fries 
Candidate Chloride-Bearing Landing Sites for Mars 2020 (20 mins)      M. Salvatore 
Discussion (30 mins)     
  Thursday, August 6, 2015 8:30 am Pacific
Title Downloads Author
Hypanis, a deltanic-lacustrine sedimentary system at the edge of a Chryse sea? (20 mins)      S. Gupta, E. Sefton-Nash, et al. 
8:50-10:15am Summary of Sites (Single Slide) and Discussion    M. Golombek, and J. Grant 
10:15-12:00 pm Discussion and Ranking of the Candidate Sites    M. Golombek, J. Grant 
12:00 pm END OF WORKSHOP 

*** Logistics for 2nd 2020 Mars Rover Landing Site Workshop ***

The Second Landing Site Workshop for the Mars 2020 Rover will be held August 4-6, 2015 in the Madera room at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Monrovia, CA. Note that no refreshments will be provided during the conference (due to NASA guidelines for conferences). The hotel has a Starbucks in the lobby and there are numerous dining options within walking distance of the DoubleTree.

If you are presenting: please bring your presentation on a thumbdrive and give it to the person staffing the presentation computer. If you are presenting in the morning, please provide it by 8am that morning. If you are presenting in the afternoon, please provide it by the start of the preceding lunch break.

Those in town Monday afternoon are also invited to a JPL Mars Seminar, sponsored by the Mars Program Office:
Seeing Like a Rover: Visualization, embodiment, and teamwork on the Mars Exploration Rover mission
By Dr. Janet Vertesi (Princeton)
Monday August 3, 2015 - 4:00 pm, in the JPL von Karman Auditorium (open to the public)
How do scientists work with their robots millions of miles away to make scientific discoveries on a planet they have never set foot on? Drawing on two years of immersive ethnographic fieldwork with the Mars Exploration Rover mission team, I show how science team members learn to "see like a Rover" while working with Spirit and Opportunity. On the one hand, this requires a particular and perhaps peculiar visual fluency with the hundreds of thousands of images that return from the Martian surface, and producing new representations with image processing software to inform each sequence of robot interactions. On the other hand, this visual connection to the Rovers' "eyes" on another planet produces a deeper connection to the robots too: one that ascribes human characteristics to machines, teaches humans to see, move and feel like their robots do, and develops an intimate and embodied understanding of the rovers' experiences on Mars. A snapshot of life on board one of the lab's most famous mission teams, this talk explores the relationship between organizations and teamwork, science and operations, with implications for our understanding of human-robot interactions across the solar system.

Bio: Dr. Janet Vertesi is assistant professor of sociology at Princeton University, where she specializes in the sociology of science, technology, and organizations. She has worked with NASA's robotic space missions as an ethnographer for nine years, including the Mars Exploration Rover mission and the Cassini mission to Saturn. She is also an active member of the Human-Computer Interaction research community, with publications at ACM CHI, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, and Ubiquitous Computing, and prior collaborations with Intel and Yahoo. Vertesi holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and M.Phil from University of Cambridge; she is a Fellow of the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy and an advisory board member of the Center for Data & Society.


*** Third Announcement of the 2nd 2020 Mars Rover Landing Site Workshop ***

Dear Colleague:

The program for the second landing site workshop for the 2020 Mars Rover mission is now posted. If you are listed as a speaker for a presentation at the workshop. Please review the program carefully to ensure you are able to attend and participate at the time indicated. It is your responsibility to inform your co-authors about your presentation.

The second landing site workshop for the 2020 Mars Rover mission will be held at the Doubletree Hotel, Arcadia, CA, on August 4-6, 2015 (next week!). Workshop logistics can be found at: http://marsnext.jpl.nasa.gov/.

The primary goal of the second workshop will be to evaluate the ~30 candidate landing sites that emerged from the first workshop as well as new candidate sites and narrow the list remaining under consideration to ~8.

The science potential of candidate sites should be described using defined and ranked Regions of Interest (ROIs) in and near the landing site that describe science targets for exploration by the rover. Presenters at the workshop must make a comprehensive, persuasive talk on why a site is the right one for the 2020 mission and payload, including how the science objectives of the mission can be accomplished and (where possible) an assessment of how the surface characteristics meet the engineering criteria so that each site can be comprehensively and fairly assessed.

The 2020 project science group has adopted a set of science criteria for the 2020 landing site that should be considered in developing the science potential of candidate sites. This rubric and the scientific selection criteria that will be used to evaluate the candidate sites is posted at: http://marsnext.jpl.nasa.gov/. Proposers are required to evaluate their site relative to the rubric and scientific selection criteria as a part of their presentation: the criteria will be used at the workshop to summarize the relative science merits of the candidate sites for ranking.

Thank you for your interest in landing site activities related to the Mars 2020 rover mission. We look forward to seeing you at the workshop next week!

Sincerely,
John Grant and Matt Golombek
Co-Chairs, Mars Landing Site Steering Committee



*** Second Announcement of the 2nd 2020 Mars Rover Landing Site Workshop ***

Dear Colleague:

The second landing site workshop for the 2020 Mars Rover mission will be held at the Doubletree Hotel, Arcadia, CA, on August 4-6, 2015. Workshop logistics can be found at: http://marsnext.jpl.nasa.gov/. The format will include oral presentations and general discussion of previously and newly proposed candidate landing sites. We are soliciting presentations on the science merits of the candidate landing sites for the Mars 2020 mission. Each site will be represented by a single speaker or science spokesperson at the workshop. Presentations are also solicited on the surface characteristics of the landing sites and how well they conform to the engineering requirements.

Descriptions of the 2020 mission and a summary of NASA's Mars exploration strategy are found at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mars2020/, http://marsnext.jpl.nasa.gov/, http://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/overview/, and http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/reports.cfm.

The primary goal of the second workshop will be to evaluate the ~30 candidate landing sites that emerged from the first workshop as well as any new sites proposed within the framework provided by existing data for Mars (e.g., MRO), the science requirements of the 2020 mission, and a better understanding of the 2020 engineering requirements and traversability of the landing sites relative to these requirements. Science potential of candidate sites should be described using defined Regions of Interest (ROIs) in and near the landing site that describe science targets for exploration by the rover. Presenters at the workshop must make a comprehensive, persuasive talk on why a site is the right one for the 2020 mission and payload, including how the science objectives of the mission can be accomplished and (where possible) an assessment of how the surface characteristics meet the engineering criteria so that each site can be comprehensively and fairly assessed.

Each candidate site must meet the nominal mission engineering requirements that can be reviewed at: http://marsnext.jpl.nasa.gov/. The 2020 project science group has adopted a set of science criteria for the 2020 landing site that should be considered in developing the science potential of candidate sites. This rubric is posted at: http://marsnext.jpl.nasa.gov/ and proposers will be required to evaluate their site relative to the rubric as a part of their presentation. The scientific factors that motivate the rubric will be made available in the next announcement and will be used at the workshop to summarize the relative science merits of the candidate sites for ranking. The 2020 project has also recognized the need for a strategy to ensure that the science value of the landing site is not unnecessarily compromised when faced with late-breaking changes to EDL (e.g., Terrain Relative Navigation) and in rover surface performance relative to mission lifetime (e.g., Land On vs. Go To sites). Hence, the 2020 project is working on how changing access to the site at landing and mobility requirements may impact the ability to reach ROIs and therefore the science priority of the sites.

Persons wishing to make a presentation at the workshop should submit the title of their talk to John Grant (grantj@si.edu) and Matt Golombek (mgolombek@jpl.nasa.gov) by July 20th, 2015. If a candidate landing site receives multiple requests for presentations, site proposers will be asked to coordinate content and identify a single speaker. The workshop program will be distributed in the third announcement, which will be posted the week of July 27th, 2015. We expect the list of sites under consideration to be narrowed to approximately 8 at the end of the second workshop. These sites will then be considered in more detail by the 2020 Project, Mars Program, and the Science Community to further assess how they meet engineering constraints and science criteria. We will be using Adobe Connect again to webcast this workshop, as was done for the 1st 2020 LS Workshop (information to be provided in the 3rd announcement). Future workshops are planned that would further narrow the list of sites under consideration.

All members of the scientific community are encouraged to participate in the Mars 2020 site selection process, as input from the science community is critical to identification of optimal landing sites for the mission. We look forward to your continued involvement in these activities!

Sincerely,
John Grant and Matt Golombek
Co-Chairs, Mars Landing Site Steering Committee


*** Venue/hotel information for the 2nd 2020 Mars Rover Landing Site Workshop ***

The Second Landing Site Workshop for the Mars 2020 Rover will be held August 4-6, 2015 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Monrovia, CA.

Also, a reminder that this workshop has been designated a conference, so civil servants and JPLers must forecast. The 90-day cut-off for forecasting is May 4, 2015.

If you have any questions about the Workshop logistics, please email Dr. Serina Diniega (serina.diniega@jpl.nasa.gov), Mars Program Office.


*** First Announcement of the 2nd 2020 Mars Rover Landing Site Workshop ***

Dear Colleague:

You are invited to participate in the second landing site workshop for the Mars 2020 Rover. The workshop will be held in the Pasadena, CA, area on August 4-6, 2015 (venue TBD) and will focus on further evaluation of candidate sites introduced at the first workshop as well as new candidate sites. Additional information will be provided in future announcements and will be posted on the Mars 2020 landing site website: http://marsnext.jpl.nasa.gov.

The process of selecting the 2020 Mars Project landing site began with a first workshop held in Crystal City, VA in May, 2014. At the workshop, a list of 27 sites was prioritized for imaging by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and other orbiting spacecraft at Mars.

The goal of the second workshop will be to narrow the original list of sites as well as new candidate sites to approximately 8 sites based on existing mission engineering constraints and available atmosphere and terrain data products. The format will include oral presentations (to be solicited in a subsequent mailing) and general discussion of the sites.

An important aspect of the second workshop presentations will be the identification of specific regions of interest (ROI) within the landing ellipse and any "Go To" regions where science investigations could enable achieving mission science objectives. The Mars 2020 Rover project would like to understand how far and over what terrain the rover must traverse at a prospective landing site in order to fulfill the science objectives.

The candidate landing sites emerging from the second workshop will then be considered in more detail by the 2020 Project, Mars Program, and the Science Community. It is expected that additional orbital data will also be obtained for the sites remaining under consideration. New sites may be proposed and discussed at the workshop, with the expectation that such new sites will be based in part on discoveries related to new data from MRO. Future workshops (beyond 2015) are planned that would further narrow the list of sites under consideration to a recommended landing site zone and (eventually) precise landing ellipse.

Additional information on the Mars 2020 mission and relevant engineering requirements, landing site selection process, and available data for the proposed sites can be found on the M2020 landing site website: http://marsnext.jpl.nasa.gov. A second announcement for this workshop will request presentations and provide more specific logistical information.

All members of the scientific community are encouraged to participate in this activity, as robust input from the science community is critical to identifying the optimal landing site for the 2020 rover. We look forward to your continued involvement in these activities!

Sincerely,
John Grant and Matt Golombek
Co-Chairs, Mars Landing Site Steering Committee

 

Landing Site Workshop: John Grant (grantj@si.edu), Matthew Golombek (mgolombek@jpl.nasa.gov)