1. NSLS-II Colloquium

    "NASA's Mars 2020 Mission – First Steps Towards Mars Sample Return"

    Presented by Kenneth Farley, Caltech

    Thursday, April 11, 2019, 4 pm
    Large Seminar Room, Bldg. 510

    Hosted by: John Hill

    Scientists have advocated for the return of samples from Mars for decades. The quest has finally begun in earnest: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is in the final stages of construction of the Mars 2020 mission. Mars 2020 builds on the highly successful design of the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity Rover) and is updated with new landing capabilities, scientific instruments, and a very sophisticated rock sample collection system. Mars 2020's chief goals are to unravel the geology of its landing site, seek evidence of potential Martian biosignatures, and prepare a cache of several dozen samples for possible return to Earth by a future element of a notional Mars Sample Return campaign. NASA recently selected the mission's destination: Jezero Crater. This crater once held a very deep lake comparable in size to Lake Tahoe. Key geologic targets at the site include ancient Martian bedrock, lake sediments and especially a remarkably preserved river delta, and unusual carbonate-bearing rocks possibly precipitated from lake-water. Mars 2020 will launch in the summer of 2020, land on February 18, 2021, and rove the surface for at least two years. I am Project Scientist for Mars 2020 and will describe the goals and development of this mission, and of Mars sample return.