WASHINGTON – NASA and three international partners signed an agreement to cooperate on a proposed mission to search for ice deposits under the surface of Mars, a precursor to human missions there.
In a February 3 statement, NASA said it has signed a “statement of intent” with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Italian space agency ASI in relation to the International Mapper of Mars. Under this agreement, agencies will study concepts for the mission and potential roles and responsibilities.
NASA introduced the mission concept in its budget proposal for fiscal year 2021, a year ago. The spacecraft would be launched in 2026 and would orbit around Mars, using radar to search for ice deposits below the Martian surface that could be studied by future missions to the Martian surface, including human missions.
In its statement, NASA did not reveal the potential roles of international partners in the mission. However, at previous advisory committee meetings, agency officials said that CSA would provide the radar instrument, JAXA the spacecraft bus and ASI the communications subsystem for the spacecraft. NASA would be responsible for overall management of the mission and for providing the spacecraft launch.
“This innovative partnership model for the Mars Ice Mapper combines our global experience and allows for cost sharing across sectors to make this mission more viable for all stakeholders,” Jim Watzin, senior NASA consultant who supports NASA planning mission to Mars and former head of the Mars Exploration Program agency, said in the statement.
NASA did not set a formal cost estimate for its part of the mission, but Watzin, speaking at a November meeting of a committee to support planetary science research, said the agency estimated its share of the mission to cost $ 185. millions.
At that meeting, Watzin said that Mars Ice Mapper was an essential part of long-term planning for human missions to Mars, identifying locations where water ice can exist within 5-10 meters of the surface and therefore can be accessed by expeditions manned. “The Mars Ice Mapper mission was identified as an essential precursor mission necessary to obtain this critical information so that we could decide where to go for the first human mission and also how to prepare for that mission,” he said.
The mission has faced some skepticism from scientists on Mars, who question the prioritization of an ice mapping mission over other scientific goals. Watzin said at that November meeting that Mars Ice Mapper is a “precursor exploration mission” that also has scientific benefits, comparing it to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission originally launched to support the Constellation lunar exploration effort, but which is now part of the program. planetary science science.
In its announcement of the declaration of intent, NASA said the partners “will explore travel sharing opportunities for missions” in the next phase of the Mars Ice Mapper study. “All scientific data from the mission would be made available to the international scientific community for planetary science and Mars recognition.”
“Mapping water ice close to the surface would reveal a still hidden part of the Martian hydrosphere and the layers above it, which can help to uncover the history of environmental changes on Mars and lead to our ability to answer fundamental questions about whether Mars there was a home for microbial life or it may still be today, ”said Eric Ianson, director of the Mars Exploration Program, in the statement.
At a January 27 meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group, Ianson said that in addition to the declaration of intent, NASA was preparing for a “pre-acquisition strategy meeting” in the near future. This meeting will decide on a leadership center for the Mars Ice Mapper mission and other issues before formally beginning the development of the mission.
Watzin, speaking at the same meeting, hoped that a formal memorandum of understanding between the agencies participating in the mission would be ready in late spring or early summer. “This will bring the mission team together and then we can begin to seriously advance the implementation of this,” he said.
The announcement of NASA’s declaration of intent included an illustration of the Mars Ice Mapper communicating with three spacecraft in orbit around Mars, acting as communication relays for Earth. The announcement did not discuss these relays, but agency officials have already discussed the development of a satellite communications network at Mars, perhaps through public-private partnerships, to support the Mars Ice Mapper.