Selection of the landing site in Isidis Planitia of Mars probe Beagle 2

Abstract

[1] This paper describes selection and characterization of the landing site for the Mars 2004 Beagle 2 mission. The site is within Isidis Planitia between 10°-12°N, 266°-274°W, centered at 11.6°N, 269.5°W. This is at low elevation (À3600 to À3900 m MOLA), is flat (MOLA RMS slope = 0.57°), radar data suggest a smoother surface at decimeter to meter scales than the Pathfinder site and it has a moderate rock abundance (2-17%, mean 11%). In addition to this, Isidis shows evidence for concentration and remobilization of volatiles. In particular, the basin contains conical landforms. We favor models involving the formation of tuff cones during magma-ice interaction. Structures identified as dykes in MOC images may be remnants of magma conduits. The pattern of bulk thermal inertia in Isidis (higher values of 500 Jm À2 s À0.5 K À1 around the SW-S-E margin decreasing toward the center and north) suggests that an influx of sediment spread from the Noachian areas around the southern half of the basin over the basin floor. The coarse, higher thermal inertia material was deposited closest to the sediment source. The variable state of erosion of the tuff cones suggests that they formed intermittently over a long period of time during Amazonian and possibly Hesperian epochs. Geologically recent resurfacing of Isidis has also occurred by aeolian processes, and this is shown by a deficit in impact craters <120 m diameter. The proportion of rocky material is predicted to be slightly less than the Viking and Pathfinder sites, but there will probably be more duricrust.

Planetary Robotic System Design

“…With some minor differences, the configuration of the Luna landers for sample return was fairly consistent among missions Luna 16,18,20,23,and 24. With a launch mass of 5727 kg and a landed mass of 1880 kg on the Moon, the surface platform consists of a landing system, a return vehicle (512 kg), and a reentry capsule (50 cm diameter, 34 kg) for returning the sample down to the Earth [9,10].…”

The Beagle 2 stereo camera system

“…In Isidis, potential landforms that might have been observed are crater walls and small knobs -judged from Mars Orbiter Camera images to resemble Icelandic pseudo cones 30-100 m tall (Bridges et al 2003). SCS observations therefore, had the potential to yield useful data to confirm or refute the pseudo cone interpretation.…”

“…Despite these potential gaps this DEM could be used to study the geomorphology, size distributions and area cover of rocks and boulders at the landing site. For example Bridges et al (2003) estimated, based on data sets derived from Viking Lander images, that 5% of the landing site area was covered by rocks > 0.2 m high.…”

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) during MRO’s Primary Science Phase (PSP)

“…The MPL region is covered by many bright and dark features about the scale of the flight hardware, so it may be well camouflaged. Five images have been acquired within the large landing ellipse for Beagle-2 (Bridges et al, 2003), in spite of no MRO project "must-have" requests in this case. Another difficulty is the unknown states of the hardware.…”