Artist's depiction of a Rover on the surface of Mars
Mars Rovers: Energizer Bunnies of Planetary Exploration
The Mars Exploration Rover project of 2004 succeeded well beyond the most optimistic expectations. In the spring of 2005, NASA recognized that Spirit and Opportunity had both completed their one year anniversary of activity on Mars — four times their original design life — achieving all primary mission objectives for numbers of locations examined in detail, distances traveled and scientific measurements with all instruments — accumulating persuasive geologic evidence of the past presence of water. Data returned by Opportunity indicate that Meridiani Planum site was once the location of a highly saline body of water from which mineral salts precipitated. As Spirit has begun to climb into the Columbia Hills in Gusev Crater, the rocks have taken on a different character with growing evidence that they too were influenced by interactions with liquid water.
Stony Brook’s members of the Rover scientific team, led by Geosciences Prof. Scott McLennan, a sedimentary geologist, participated with their team colleagues in analyzing and interpreting the unexpectedly rich streams of data and reporting mission results to the public. The mission extension made it possible to add graduate students Nicholas Tosca, Joel Hurowitz and Brian Hahn as student collaborators and they sojourned at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and took an active role in mission operations, including the design and implementation of science plans for Rover activity, giving them the unparalleled educational opportunity to work at the absolute cutting edge of planetary exploration.
In just a few years, Geosciences, through involvement in the Mars program as well as through research initiatives by Profs. Don Lindsley, Hanna Nekvasil, Troy Rasbury, and Martin Schoonen has gone from having virtually no involvement in planetary science to making significant ongoing contributions.