Stefan's

__Future Exploration Plans For NASA__

NASA has been planning long term space exploration that has a course set for the next 20 years. The program will use intelligence gained from past missions, failed or succeeded, and use them to build on their visionary new program.


 * // Projected Projects, from 2011 Forward... //**

__Scout Missions__

NASA will continue with multiple scout missions and have a newer shuttle the [|Phoenix] Lander, whose low cost, impressive compact and affordable design, packed with immense exploration capabilities, make the future look bright for Mars exploration. Such missions may also involve some more [|airborne vehicles], along with small implemented landers that will server as platforms for investigation. This new and unique approach will open up interesting new possibilities because of the drastic number increase of alien (No, not like E.T alien, alien as in new) sites visited. The next planned scouting mission, called [|MAVEN], is an obiter that will not focus on the alien ground surface of Mars, but the atmosphere that surrounds it. This will allows us to observe the climate history of Mars and the potential it has to sustain life. The new mission is scheduled to launch in 2013.
 * Figure 1.**

__Sample (Rock) Missions__

In the second decade of the 21st century, NASA is still planning even more orbiters, rovers, and landers to send to Mars. One new mission, is to return a sample from Mars. This would use robotic systems and would need an [|ascent rocket] (fig.1) to Mars, and collect and send rock samples of alien rocks, soils and atmosphere back to earth, for physical and chemical analysis. It would be very important that the rocket could send the samples back, because an analysis on Earth would be much more detailed than that of a remote. On Earth, preparation for intricate samples could be easily achieved, and analysis if they achieved unexpected results. In addition to the possibilities, the collected rocks from Mars could yield even new discoveries, as future generations develop new technologies to analyze them.
 * Figure 2.**

__The Haughton Crater: The Haughton Mars Project__

//** What is the Haughton Crater? **//


 * The Haughton meteorite crater, on Devon Island, Nunavut, in the high arctic of Canada, is 20 km in diameter and is estimated to have formed 23 million years ago. it is one of the highest latitude craters known on our Earth [|(75°22'N, 89°41'W)] . It is the only known crater to lie ins the "Frost Rubble Zone" of our earth, i.e in a polar desert environment. **


 * // Why is this important in Mars Exploration? //**

// The Haughton crater is the only crater known to man on earth set in a polar desert, this means that t is cold, dry, windy, dusty, and rocky. The planet Mars, which is believed to be a polar desert in itself, has very similar characteristics to this part of the Earth's geological landscape. By studying this crater, we can truly have a Mars-like experience. We could study the rate of rock and soil erosion, to truly get a feel for Mars landscape, without having to set foot on the red planet itself. //

// There is one problem, however the average temperature on Devon Island is only -17 degrees Celsius, versus the chilling -60 degrees Celicius on Mars. The conditions on Devon Island, while extreme by human standards, are still quite the ways from being as harsh as those on Mars. But, they are the closest step in the right direction that we have so far, so the site is worth exploring for Mars Exploration Progress. //

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