19th November 2013 Sol 459

As we work in Gale Crater with Curiosity, other Mars missions are being planned and launched.  MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) has taken off to orbit Mars and study in its thin upper atmosphere.  When the mudstones at Yellowknife Bay formed the atmosphere was probably considerably thicker than it is today.  By calculating the current rate of loss of atmopshere it will be possible to get a better idea of how great the atmospheric pressures were during the 0-19 Gyr Amazonian, 1.9-3.6 Gyr Hesperian and ancient Noachian epochs on Mars. 

Seeing the pictures of MAVEN’s launch at Cape Canaveral reminded me of Curiosity’s launch in August 2011.

Meanwhile the first deadline for suggestions for Mars2020’s landing site has passed.  Mars 2020 will cache samples for future return to Earth.  The rover chassis and Skycrane landing system will be the same as Curiosity’s.  At Leicester and the British Geological Survey we (Stuart Turner, Stephen Grebby, me) have proposed a site in East Melas Chasma, which is part of the Valles Marineris canyon system.  This combines ancient sediments, phyllosilicates and volcanics so could be suitable for sample return.  There will be many other suggestions from the Mars community, so it will be exciting to see the science discussions on this topic as they develop.