Exobiology at Sinus Meridiani: 2003 and Beyond

Details Exobiology at Sinus Meridiani: 2003 and Beyond Exobiology at Sinus Meridiani: 2003 and Beyond

Jan 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001mers.work....1a&link_type=abstract

First Landing Site Workshop for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers, p. 1

Biology

Exobiology, Mars Exploration, Mars Surface, Landing Sites, Hematite, X Ray Spectrometers, Water, Paleontology, Microorganisms

Scientific paper

Science objectives for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) relate to definition of the history of water and climate on Mars in locations where conditions may have been favorable for life. Specifically, the goal of each rover is to determine the aqueous, climatic, and geologic history of a site on Mars where conditions may have been favorable to the preservation of evidence of possible pre-biotic or biotic processes. Of the many potential landing sites permitted by engineering constraints, sites displaying what are believed to be significant concentrations of the mineral hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) clearly have a high potential for satisfying the mission science objectives for the following reasons: 1) hematite is the only mineral yet identified on Mars that is generally associated with water; 2) hematite-rich sites are accessible to the 2003 mission; 3) the MER instruments are well suited to analyze the aqueous and geologic history of a hematite deposit; and 4) the MER instruments may be able to recognize macroscopic evidence of life potentially preserved in the geologic record. In addition, hematite is one of a limited number of minerals known to be associated with the preservation of microscopic evidence of life. A hematite-rich deposit with indications of potential biological activity would be a prime site for future sample return missions.

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