Jezero Crater Will Host NASA's Next Mars Rover

After years of meetings and countless hours spent scouring surface images of Mars, NASA has finally picked the landing site for its next $2.1 billion robotic mission to the red planet. In a press call on Nov. 19, the space agency announced that Jezero Crater, once the site of river delta that flowed into an ancient lake, holds the best chance of dramatically evolving our understanding of whether or not Mars once hosted life.

"The landing site in Jezero Crater offers geologically rich terrain, with landforms reaching as far back as 3.6 billion years old, that could potentially answer important questions in planetary evolution and astrobiology," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement.

Despite its scientific value, Jezero Crater also comes with some considerable risks. For one, the 28-mile-wide-crater is strewn in places with large boulders, rocks, and small impact craters that could hinder the final stages of the rover's descent. Depressions filled with deep, soft sand could also "trap" the rover; a hazard that doomed the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in 2010. Nonetheless, mission scientists are confident this new rover can overcome many of the obstacles that caused officials to deviate from Jezero in the past.

"The Mars community has long coveted the scientific value of sites such as Jezero Crater, and a previous mission contemplated going there, but the challenges with safely landing were considered prohibitive," Ken Farley, project scientist for Mars 2020 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said. "But what was once out of reach is now conceivable, thanks to the 2020 engineering team and advances in Mars entry, descent and landing technologies."

Jezero Crater was chosen from a candidate pool of four landing sites recommended by a consortium of more than 150 scientists in mid-October. Reduced from an initial lot of 30 locations in 2014, all four sites had to host an "astrobiologically-relevant ancient environment" with "geologic diversity that has the potential to yield fundamental scientific discoveries." They also had to have the potential for significant water resources (water-rich hydrated minerals, ice/ice regolith or subsurface ice) that might be utilized for future exploration missions.

One other requirement that's new to the exploration of Mars: the sites must also yield potentially rich samples for a first-ever return trip back to Earth. During the course of its time on Mars, the 2020 rover will collect and cache up to a dozen samples for retrieval at a later date.

Below is a bit more about both Jezero Crater and the three other sites that remain potential targets for future missions to Mars.

Jezero Crater

Jezero Crater spans some 30 miles across and is believed to have been flooded at one point. As shown in the photo above, the crater contains the remains of a fan-delta deposit rich in clays. Extensive studies of Jezero's surface features using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have also led scientists to believe the lake was long-lived and, therefore, may have been a prime hotspot for life.

"The delta and nearby outcrops expose clays and other materials whose properties make them favorable for preserving organics and (or) other biogenic signatures," the Mars 2020 Landing Site Steering Committee writes. "In addition, there are carbonate-bearing rocks whose origin may relate to past weathering and overlying cratered and possibly volcanic rocks on the crater floor that could be used to help constrain Martian chronology."

Bottom line: If Mars once hosted life, it's possible that remnants of it have been preserved in the clay deposits of Jezero Crater.

Northeast Syrtis

A site of considerable mineral diversity, the northeast edge of Syrtis Major (which is also home to Jezero crater), would allow easy access for the Mars 2020 rover to examine clays, carbonate-bearing rocks and other deposits bearing the hallmarks of a once warm and wet region.

Because NE Syrtis was once volcanically-active, it's thought that the combination of water and heat could have provided a rich environment for life to flourish. Weathering has also exposed various types of rock formations that could enable the rover to analyze and collect samples from different point in Mars' history. Unlike other potential landing sites, the Mars rover would not have to travel far to begin new and useful science.

"The regions of interest are more clustered in Northeast Syrtis," UT Austin geoscientist Tim Goudge told Wired.

Bottom line: NE Syrtis has both large carbonate deposits and exposed strata that may offer both proof of former life and insight into Mars' rich geological history.

Midway

Earlier this summer, scientists pouring over data from the various candidate sites came to the conclusion that it might be possible for the Mars 2020 rover to visit more than just one location. To that end, they set their gaze upon Midway, a region that contains the same enticing morphology of NE Syrtis, while also being within striking distance (17 miles) of Jezero crater.

"The community prefers a mega-mission," Bethany Ehlmann, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, told Nature. "If we’re going to do sample return, it has to be a sample cache for the ages."

While Midway is attractive, there's still much uncertainty about whether or not the vehicle will last long enough to reach Jezero. Since landing in 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover has only traveled a little over 11 miles. The 2020 rover benefits from new technology and a bit of a bump in speed (1.65 inches per second vs. Curiosity's 1.5), as well as more robust wheels for handling Mars' rough terrain, but it would still take a little over two years (or almost the duration of its primary mission) to make it to the rim of Jezero.

"The further away you land from your gold mine, the higher the risk you might not get there," Ray Arvidson, a planetary geologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, told ScienceMag about his worry of not reaching Jezero.

Bottom line: Midway is attractive because of the potential diversity of sample sites possible at both Syrtis and Jezero. Whether the rover will succeed in traveling the distance and navigating Mars' tricky surface features remains a giant worry.

Columbia Hills

Columbia Hills, located within the 103-mile-wide Gusev crater, are perhaps the safest bet of the four landing sites for one big reason: we've visited them before. In 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit touched down within Gusev and proceeded to travel to the base of Columbia Hills. Researchers are interested in following up on promising science started with Spirit (the rover went silent in 2010 after becoming stuck in a sand trap), which indicated the presence of promising carbonates, opaline silica and sulfates.

According to James Rice, co-investigator and geology team leader on the Mars Exploration Rover Project, landing the 2020 rover near Columbia Hills would also provide a rare opportunity to investigate the final resting place of Spirit.

"By this time Spirit would have been exposed to the Martian environment for over 15 years," Rice wrote in the final report. "Thereby, making for an excellent long duration exposure experiment providing long-term data on the Martian environment, including weathering, micrometeorites, and its effects on materials degradation and other systems (including power, propulsion and optics). This data will aid in the design of surface systems, equipment and structures for the future robotic and manned exploration of the planet."

Bottom line: Columbia Hills offers a familiar location with promising outcrops likely formed by ancient mineral springs. Investigation of Spirit offers potential value for future exploration.

Jezero and beyond?

At the end of the three-day summit, participants were asked to rate on a scale of 1-5 the four landing sites against the predetermined criteria. From the 158 votes tallied, Jezero crater came in first, with both NE Syrtis and Midway very close behind. Columbia Hills, meanwhile, scored the lowest.

"Interestingly, the Midway and Jezero crater sites were assessed the highest (and received the most votes for high potential) with respect to extended mission criteria," the committee reported, "perhaps reflecting the interest in possible extended mission opportunities between the two sites."

While its entirely possible that Midway will receive a visit from the Mars 2020 rover after it completes its primary mission, for now NASA is throwing all its weight behind preparing for Jezero.

"The beautiful Jezero delta offers a chance to look for life as we know it on Earth. Outside of the crater is the chance to look for like as it is likely to be on Mars, underground," Caltech’s Bethany Ehlmann told NatGeo. “What's going to be really important is for Mars 2020 to operate efficiently to collect samples from Jezero, then move out from the crater to the source of its sediments."