NASA Receives Widespread Concepts for Future Mars Missions

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May 24, 2012

Dwayne Brown 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1726 
dwayne.c.brown@xxxxxxxx 

RELEASE: 12-169

NASA RECEIVES WIDESPREAD CONCEPTS FOR FUTURE MARS MISSIONS

WASHINGTON -- NASA's call to scientists and engineers to help plan a 
new strategy to explore Mars has resulted in almost double the amount 
of expected submissions with unique and bold ideas. 

About 400 concepts or abstracts were submitted to the Concepts and 
Approaches for Mars Exploration Workshop in Houston, which was 
organized to gather input for the reformulation of NASA's Mars 
Exploration Program. Submissions came from individuals and teams that 
included professional researchers, undergraduate and graduate 
students, NASA centers, federal laboratories, industry, and 
international partner organizations. 

NASA is reformulating the Mars Exploration Program to be responsive to 
high-priority science goals and President Obama's challenge of 
sending humans to Mars orbit in the 2030s. 

"This strong response sends a clear message that exploring Mars is 
important to future exploration," said John Grunsfeld, associate 
administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's 
headquarters in Washington and an astrophysicist and astronaut. "The 
challenge now will be to select the best ideas for the next phase." 

Selected abstracts will be presented during a workshop June 12-14 
hosted by the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. Selectees are 
now being invited to present and discuss concepts, options, 
capabilities and innovations to advance Mars exploration. Workshop 
discussion will help inform a strategy for exploration within 
available resources beginning as early as 2018, and stretching into 
the next decade and beyond. Proceedings will be streamed live online. 


"Developing abstracts is very time consuming, requiring intense 
preparation, and we appreciate the fabulous response," said Doug 
McCuistion, director, NASA's Mars Exploration Program in Washington. 
"Even though space is limited, to ensure transparency in the process 
anyone can observe the scientific and engineering deliberations via 
the Web." 

Based on the abstracts selected, associated working groups will 
consider the ideas and concepts in depth during the workshop. 
Near-term ideas will be taken into consideration for early mission 
planning in the 2018-2024 timeframe, while mid- to longer-term ideas 
will inform program-level architecture planning for 2026 and beyond. 

The Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG), tasked with developing options 
for a reformulated Mars Exploration Program, will consider the 
workshop inputs for the various options, taking into consideration 
budgetary, programmatic, scientific, and technical constraints. 

Options developed by the MPPG are expected to advance the science 
objectives in the National Research Council's Planetary Science 
Decadal Survey. The survey rated the return of Mars samples to Earth 
as a top scientific goal. Developed in consultation with the 
scientific and technical community, the MPPG report is expected to be 
delivered for NASA review at the end of the summer. 

The MPPG reports to Grunsfeld, who chairs the overall, agencywide 
reformulation strategy along with William Gerstenmaier, associate 
administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission 
Directorate, NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati and NASA Chief 
Technologist Mason Peck. 

"Getting to Mars is hard," said Grunsfeld. "We've had successes and 
losses, but the human spirit to continue exploring the Red Planet 
prevails." 

This August, NASA will land the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, on 
the planet's surface. This roving science laboratory will assess 
whether Mars was or is today an environment able to support life. In 
2013, NASA will launch the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution 
(MAVEN) orbiter, the first mission devoted to understanding the 
Martian upper atmosphere. 

To view progress updates and obtain information on the workshop, 
visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/marsplanning/home/index.html 

For more information about NASA's Mars programs, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/mars 

	
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