http://www.asu.edu/asunews/research/Mars-Leshin_120602.html
NASA Selects ASU-Directed SCIM Proposal as One of Four Finalists for Mars Scout Mission James Hathaway, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Arizona State university 480-965-6375 December 6, 2002 NASA has selected a proposal for a mission that would collect samples of martian atmospheric dust as one of four finalists for the first Mars Scout mission (see NASA press release). The proposal, directed by Arizona State University geologist and cosmochemist Laurie Leshin, will receive a $500,000 grant to complete its development prior to the agency's final selection process, which will begin next summer. The Mars Scout Program plans to mount at least one (and perhaps several) Scout missions to Mars beginning in 2007, with budgets of up to $300 million per mission. Leshin's proposal is called "Sample Collection for Investigation of Mars" (SCIM), and involves a mission that would do a hit-and-run with the dusty Martian atmosphere. The proposed mission would perform the first return of a Martian sample at less cost, lower risk and in a shorter time frame than the far more complicated missions that will eventually be launched to collect samples from the planet's surface. For full details on the mission proposal, including images and animations, see http://scim.asu.edu . In brief, the proposal calls for a spacecraft to make a "high pass" of Mars, going within 25 miles of the planet's surface and to collect samples from the Martian atmosphere for about one minute at about 12,300 miles per hour, before swinging back and beginning the return to earth. On the spacecraft, a light-weight and porous high-tech substance known as "aerogel" would cushion, trap and preserve dust particles. The aerogel collection device is similar to the device on the Stardust mission to collect dust streaming off of a comet. Leshin projects that the aerogel would capture about 1000 fine dust particles measuring 10 microns (1/100 of a millimeter) or larger. "Martian dust is an interesting thing because there is dust all over the Martian surface," said Leshin. "It's the ubiquitous layer - it's everywhere, yet we really know very little about it. It samples virtually the whole planet, yet it is so fine-grained that it is very hard to study when you're sitting there on the surface. You really need to bring it back to Earth to characterize it grain by grain. And each grain is like a little rock from Mars." Dr. Leshin is currently at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, but can be reached by cellular phone at 602-430-0067, or in her hotel at 415-771-1400, room 4282. ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
