Dr. Barbara Cohen, research assistant professor in the Institute of Meteoritics, has been chosen by NASA for participation in the next two years of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission. Cohen’s research focuses on geology of extraterrestrial samples, including lunar rocks and meteorites. She will help guide the Mars Exploration Rovers to find and analyze rocks formed in impact craters on the Martian surface.
"Spirit and Opportunity have exceeded all expectations for their longevity and discoveries on Mars, and both rovers are in good position to continue providing even more great science," said Dr. Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters. "Because of this, we want to add to the rover team that collectively chooses how to use the rover's science instruments each day."
Cohen was one of eight investigators selected to join the team. The investigators will work with the MER Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., and will be full MER science-team members, joining previously selected scientists as part of the Athena science team.
“Specifically, I’ll be using the rovers to search for impact rocks based mostly on their chemistry and physical characteristics,” said Cohen. “We know that impact rocks have some unusual chemical ratios that can form during impacts from asteroids and I will be looking for these ratios in the Martian rocks. We can also tell something about the rock’s formation based on its shape – impact rocks might be angular pieces blown out by a crater rather than rounded pebbles like you might find in a stream.”
The mission, consisting of two rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, landed on opposite sides of Mars in early 2004. Mission planners expected these two powerful Mars rovers to last about three months and travel approximately eight times the length of a football field (730 meters, or 2,400 feet). But both rovers are still exploring the surface
of Mars and have traveled much farther than anticipated. Therefore, NASA is bringing more scientists aboard to help with continued operations and data analysis.
The added researchers are from Maryland, New Mexico, Texas, Wisconsin, Arizona, California, and Washington, D.C., join 49 selected by NASA in 2000 and in 2002 to provide and use the Athena suite of science instruments on the rovers. The team leader is Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821
Posted by scarr at October 19, 2005 04:15 PM