Planetary Vision 2050 Workshop 2017 (LPI Contrib. No. 1989) 8167.pdf

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE HUMAN EXPLORATION OF IN THE NEXT 35 YEARS P. B. Niles1, David Beaty2, Lindsay Hays 2, Deborah Bass 2, Mary Sue Bell3, Jake Bleacher4, Nathalie A. Cabrol5, Pan Conrad4, Dean Eppler1, Vicky Hamilton6, Jim Head7, Melinda Kahre8, Joe Levy9, Tim Lyons10, Scot Rafkin6, Jim Rice11, and Melissa Rice12, 1Exploration Integration Science Directorate, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058; (paul.b.niles@.gov), 2JPL/Caltech, 3Jacobs Engineering, 4GSFC, 5SETI, 6SWRI, 7Brown University, 8ARC, 9UT-Austin, 10UC-Riverside, 11PSI, 12Western Washington University.

Introduction substantially enhanced by complementary opera- A human mission to Mars would present an un- tion between humans and robots on the surface of precedented to investigate the earliest Mars. This would include work directly done by history of the solar system. This history that has -explorers, human supervision and control largely been overwritten on by active geologi- of robotic assets around the habitat, and human cal processing throughout its history, but on Mars, supervision and control of robotic assets well out- large swaths of the ancient crust remain exposed at side the exploration zone (>100 km away). the surface, allowing us to investigate pro- The key question then is what are the kinds of cesses at the earliest time periods when life first scientific activities that would either be enabled or appeared on the Earth. Mars’ surface has been significantly enhanced by humans on the surface of largely frozen in place for 4 billion years, and after Mars? Our analysis concluded that while humans losing its atmosphere and magnetic field what re- can do many tasks that could also be performed by mains is an ancient landscape of fomer hydrother- robots controlled from Earth, humans provide ex- mal systems, river beds, volcanic eruptions, and ceptional abilities in performing the following: impact craters. This allows us to investigate scien- tific questions ranging from the nature of the impact Establishing geologic context: history of the solar system to the origins of life. Humans in the field can rapidly collect and pro- We present here a summary of the findings of cess visual data to determine stratigraphic relation- the Human Science Objectives Science Analysis ships, superposition relationships, rock types, Group, or HSO-SAG chartered by MEPAG in 2015 to structures, and landforms. address science objectives and landing site criteria for future human missions to Mars (Niles, Beaty et Sampling al. 2015). Currently, NASA’s plan to land Human situational awareness improves the like- on Mars in the mid 2030’s would allow for robust lihood of identifying important samples of oppor- human exploration of the surface in the next 35 tunity using judgment and experience to combine years. We expect that crews would be able to trav- multiple streams of data to build a conceptual model erse to sites up to 100 km away from the original of the site to test multiple working hypotheses. landing site using robust rovers. A habitat outfitted with state of the art laboratory facilities that could Sample preparation and analysis in a habitat- enable the astronauts to perform cutting edge sci- based laboratory ence on the surface of Mars. Robotic/human part- Humans can manipulate and prepare samples in nership during exploration would further enhance an unlimited variety of ways, ensuring that the right the science return of the mission. kinds of measurements are made on the most im- portant part(s) of the sample to address the investi- The Benefits of Human-Robot Exploration gation. The essential feature, from the point of view of science planning, of a potential human mission to Performing field investigations and analyses Mars would be the presence of humans on the sur- Many field instruments and sensor systems face. However, we do not envision the scientific benefit from troubleshooting and optimization in content of a human mission to Mars as only the order to improve the targeting or data collection science that would be done by astronauts’ hands. parameters of the sensor. Humans both speed up Science efficiency during a crewed mission could be Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop 2017 (LPI Contrib. No. 1989) 8167.pdf

the rate of measurement as well as improve its quali- sediments derived from lakes, rivers, and peri-glacial ty. environments, as well as igneous rocks that pre- serve evidence for ancient hydrothermal environ- Robotic assets working along side astronauts ments. Biosignatures indicating the existence of would also provide several important advantages to past life can be identified through morphological, a human mission. For example, sterilized robots may chemical, and mineralogical analyses of the geologi- be able to explore special regions (areas where liq- cal materials. These analyses can be performed at uid water may be present) in order to minimize con- the rock outcrop, in a laboratory on the Mars sur- tamination and collect essential samples in the face, or by laboratories on Earth examining returned search for life. Robots could also provide long term samples. autonomous monitoring at a fixed station allowing Discovering evidence for existing for the crew to perform other tasks. Finally robots would be an extraordinary discovery and would could provide effective reconnaissance that could allow us to study the biology that is likely to be be utilized to maximize the time of the crew on the completely alien from our own. Locations on Mars surface and identify important sites for more inten- that allow for the presence of liquid water would be sive study. Robots operating beyond line of sight the primary target for this search which would have of crew could extend the human presence beyond to be conducted carefully under strict planetary the edge of the Exploration Zone (telepresence) in- protection protocols. cluding exploring other regions on Mars. While we have been able to study Much of this will be important during human ex- atmosphere from orbit and at the surface in a few ploration of other solar system bodies as well, and locations, much uncertainty remains about the at- human exploration has the potential to provide sub- mospheric state and forcings near the surface. Ro- stantial science return at a wide variety of destina- bust measurements by meteorological stations dis- tions. tributed across the human exploration zone would provide new insights into how the martian atmos- High Priority Science Objectives phere behaves. Additional measurements of surface Many different scientific objectives could be materials and atmospheric properties would allow us pursued that would be appropriate for the capabili- to better understand sources and sinks for dust, ties of a crewed mission. However, a potential hu- water, and CO2 and the cycling of these materials. man mission would be constrained in mass, power, Furthermore, geological investigations will yield volume, cost, mission risk, astronaut risk, and other into past climate states and the evolution of factors. The high priority science objective set will the martian atmosphere over time and under differ- need to be continually adjusted within these con- ent orbital configurations. straints and limited resources. In addition, while The origin and geological evolution of the planet priorities can be more easily defined within a partic- would be pursued through the characterization of ular scientific discipline, consensus priorities that surface units to evaluate the diverse geologic pro- cut across different disciplines will require much cesses and paleo-environments that have affected more work within the scientific community. Given the martian crust. Geologic mapping and sample those caveats, high priority scientific objectives analysis would allow us to determine the sequence have been mapped out in three general areas: As- and duration of geological events, and establish trobiology, Climate/Atmospheric Sciences, and Geo- their context within the geologic history of Mars to logical Sciences. answer larger questions about planetary evolution. Past habitable environments with high preserva- tion potential for ancient biosignatures are the pri- References: mary target for our understanding of the history of Niles, P. B., D. W. Beaty, et al. (2015). Candidate Scientific habitability of the Planet. Robotic missions have Objectives for the Human , and identified some past habitable environments, and Implications for the Identification of Martian Exploration Zones. Report of the Human Science Objectives Science based on results collected thus far, we expect past Analysis Group (HSO-SAG), Mars Exploration Analysis habitable environments to be preserved in many Group (MEPAG). locations across the surface of Mars. These include