Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p33c1770g&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P33C-1770
Physics
[5460] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Physical Properties Of Materials, [5464] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Remote Sensing, [5470] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Surface Materials And Properties, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars
Scientific paper
Comparison of remote sensing data of Gale crater with the existing six landing sites on Mars allows predictions of likely surface characteristics at the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) landing site. The MSL Gale landing ellipse (25 by 20 km) is located on cratered plains just to the northwest of the central crater mound. Bulk thermal inertia of the Gale ellipse is greater than existing landing sites, suggesting a surface dominated by indurated or cemented surface materials. The albedo of the site is comparable to Viking Lander 1 (VL1) and the dust cover index of the ellipse is comparable to Mars Pathfinder (MPF) suggesting a moderately dusty surface. The identification of sulfates and clays in the lower part of the Gale mound (the area of greatest science interest), however, suggests this area is relatively dust free. Low resolution thermal differencing suggests about 10% rock abundance at the site. About 0.05% of the surface is covered by boulders >1.5 m diameter as measured in high-resolution images (0.3 m/pixel), which extrapolated along model Mars rock size-frequency distributions to derive the area covered by rocks >0.1 m diameter, suggest an equivalent rock abundance of ~6%. MOLA 1.2 km length bidirectional slopes and pulse spread (a measure of the roughness at ~75 m) at Gale are higher than existing landing sites, suggesting Gale is moderately rougher at these length scales. Slopes at 5 m length scale from high-resolution image stereogrammetry (1 m elevation postings) and photoclinometry indicate that Gale is comparable to the roughest of the existing landings sites (MPF and VL1) at this length scale. Four craters comprising ~0.2% of the ellipse area have walls steep enough to be considered inescapable if the rover were unfortunate enough to land within them. Six mesas that cover ~0.1% of the ellipse have slopes that are <45° (the rover stability limit) so all should be escapable. Slopes within the cratered plains rarely exceed 15° so there are few mobility concerns within the landing ellipse. A field of fresh, dark sand dunes extends from the southeastern to southern part of the landing ellipse. Slopes on many of the dunes exceeds the 15° limit for traversing in unconsolidated sand. Nevertheless about 6 low slope paths (many of which are sand free) exist through the dunes so that traversing from the ellipse to the mound should be possible. Multiple traversable paths have been identified that cross the sulfate and clay layers identified in the lower part of the mound. Traversing above these layers higher into the mound dominated by more sulfate rich layers will be more challenging, requiring driving on specific paths (~6 have been identified) with slopes that are up to 30° (the rover mobility limit on outcrop).
Bellutta P.
Beyer Ross A.
Calef Fred J.
Fergason Robin L.
Golombek Matthew P.
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