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Mars madness

By Youmi Chun

Jan. 12, 2004 9:00 p.m.

The recent successful landing of NASA’s Spirit Mars
Exploration rover had a deep impact on planetary science at UCLA
and around the world.

“The Spirit rover provides a real sense of vicarious
exploration,” said David Paige, a professor in the UCLA
Department of Earth and Space Sciences.

“We’ll be able to follow the rover as it tours its
landing sites almost as if we were on Mars right along with
it.”

UCLA scientists have been active in the exploration of the red
planet and have frequently collaborated with NASA and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in California.

“It’s a pretty exciting time to be a part of Mars
research,” said Michael Mischna, a graduate researcher
working with Paige.

In 1999, Paige became the first non-NASA scientist to control
the landing of the Mars Polar Lander, which was to explore the
Martian climate.

The 1999 mission failed and was assumed to have crash-landed on
the Mars surface.

But fortunately, planetary scientists are not easily discouraged
due to the importance of their research.

“Mars research holds a tremendous amount of value since
Mars is so similar to Earth, geographically,” Paige said.

The window of opportunity to launch a spacecraft toward Mars
occurs every two years.

There is currently a multitude of other projects waiting for
these windows, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is
due to launch in 2005.

The Orbiter will be equipped to take high-resolution images of
the surface of Mars and will also be able to make other
measurements of the structure of Mars’s geology.

Another upcoming project is the Mars Science Laboratory, due to
launch in 2009. The movable geology lab with have roving
capabilities and will be equipped with instruments to study the
geology of Mars.

Paige will propose designs for instruments in this lab in
addition to addressing the scientific goals and research procedures
that the equipment will hopefully accomplish.

UCLA scientists like Paige also evaluate data from orbiting NASA
probes such as the Mars Global Surveyor, a spacecraft launched in
November 1996.

The Surveyor currently remains on the Martian surface and
continues to send back images and data as it searches for evidence
of Martian ground ice or other traces of water.

Such data can be utilized by many Mars scientists, including
Mischna, whose research focuses on the migration of water over time
on the poles of Mars.

UCLA has remained active in many aspects of Mars exploration
including the design of instruments that will measure the weather
and water in the atmosphere at landing sites. This will help in
determining where rovers should land and what sites are more likely
to contain traces of life.

“Space exploration is a little thrilling,” Mischna
said.

“I think there’s a general excitement about space
programs and I feel like I got a little inside edge on
rovers,” Mischna said.

The research of graduate student Jean-Pierre Williams studies
the possibilities of early magnetic fields on Mars as well as the
fire-scaled layering in rocks and geological formations, which
could show how life could have been harbored on Mars.

“It’s interesting to make a planetary comparison of
how planets work and it helps to provide perspective into how
planets evolve,” he said.

Paige is excited about the possibilities for the future as UCLA,
JPL, and NASA work together.

“In the near term, we’re very interested in learning
about the history of water. It’s very interesting to learn
about the history of water and the climate of Mars,” Paige
said.

In the future, he hopes to utilize this data in order to
progress to where people can someday permanently inhabit Mars.

“There’s a whole progression of exciting things
there,” Paige said.

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Youmi Chun
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