TIL: Choosing a Mars Landing Spot is Harder Than You Think | Today I Learned

if you have an entire planet to explore
where do you go Mars is a place where we
can get Rovers on the ground but what is
the one site that will tell us the most
about Mars so first can we land there is
it safe
second do we want to land there and is
this the best site for this mission and
third once we get there what exactly do
we do and what if our Rover lasts longer
than we expect what do we do next how do
we keep exploring there are many reasons
that we want to go to Mars the first big
one is why did Mars transition from what
was once a warmer wetter world to the
cold dry planet we see today the other
is could Mars hosts habitats even today
we could go to a former lake we could go
to a deep canyon we could go to an
ancient volcano once the specific area
is narrowed down that’s where the
detailed assessment really begins
we need to absolutely get the landing
site process right in terms of safety
every pixel in the highest resolution
images that we have on the surface is
scrutinized for rocks that might be
challenging to the landing system or
obstacles that might inhibit rover
driving but there is no wrong choice
from a science perspective we will learn
something wherever we are it’s just some
choices could be more right than others
in terms of the big picture
understanding of Mars history or
evidence for past life everything you
see on a spacecraft is usually designed
and built by mechanical engineer and I
get to do that my fundamental job is to
design and build hardware that goes out
and explores our universe