exploring mars Exploring Mars Chronicles from a Decade of Discovery Scott Hubbard Foreword by Bill Nye tucson © 2011 The Arizona Board of Regents All rights reserved www.uapress.arizona.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hubbard, Scott, 1948– Exploring Mars : chronicles from a decade of discovery / Scott Hubbard. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-8165-2896-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Mars (Planet)—Exploration. 2. Space flight to Mars—History. I. Title. QB643.H83 2012 523.43072'3—dc23 2011036184 Manufactured in the United States of America on acid- free, archival- quality paper containing a minimum of 30% post- consumer waste and processed chlorine free. 17 16 15 14 13 12 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Susan Contents List of Figures ix List of Plates xi Foreword by Bill Nye xiii Abbreviations xvii Acknowledgments xxi 1 Mars Is Hard 1 2 Getting Started 13 3 Inside the Beltway 39 4 Follow the Water 52 5 To Land or Not to Land? 68 6 The Rover Becomes Rovers 82 7 Hands across the Water 90 8 Getting the Word Out 98 9 All Things to All People 122 10 Return to Flight: A Mars Odyssey 147 11 The Queue 161 12 Zeroing In 180 Appendix: Timeline of the New Mars Program 187 Index 189 Figures 1 Path a spacecraft must travel from Earth to Mars. 2 2 How a cosmic ray interacts with Mars soil to create “fingerprint” identification of many elements. 43 3 Map of Odyssey’s detection of very large amounts of water ice on Mars. 44 4 Weiler presents Hubbard with an award after the successful launch of Odyssey. 47 5 Schematic of program systems engineering. 62 6 Schematic showing how water served as the common thread for the new Mars Program. 63 7 “Seek/In Situ/Sample” emerged as a logical sequence of reconnais- sance, ground truth, and (eventually) sample return. 65 8 The “ladder to Mars” alternates orbital reconnaissance with landed missions. 66 9 An ebullient Dan Goldin learning that Odyssey was safely in orbit around Mars. 71 10 Model of the 25- pound Pathfinder rover engaged in a chase with the 384- pound MER rover. 77 11 Handwritten summary of the three mission options for the 2003 launch opportunity. 78 12 Satirical look at the trials and tribulations of the NASA HQ program director. 123