Geosciences professor leads the way with rover cameras

Observers hailed this summer's Mars Exploration Rover Mission as a “geologist’s dream come true.” Dr. Mark Lemmon, an associate professor with the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, has been working with NASA and the University of Arizona on the mission.

Recently, many were excited by news that the Opportunity Rover, now entering its third year of exploration, finally arrived at the Victoria Crater.

Few researchers were more excited than Dr. Mark Lemmon. The “Victoria crater is the deepest hole around, and has the largest section of exposed rocks,” Lemmon explained. “Victoria is the best and clearest window into Mars' past that we will see with either rover.”

The Spirit and Opportunity Rovers, which were designed to last only 90 Martian sols, a little over a month and a half, have now been traveling Mars for over ten times that long. Dr. Lemmon has been involved with the twin rovers since their planning stages.

“I do a lot of work with the rovers’ cameras, and I study and analyze the data that the rovers gather. There is a lot of day-to-day work that has to be done with the rovers, and they are occupying a lot of my time right now.”

As the atmospheric sciences lead, Lemmon represents members of the atmospheric sciences team as the rovers’ daily tasks are chosen.

“Everybody will get together in a meeting and we all talk about things that we would like to have the rovers do in the near future,” Lemmon said. “There are a lot of different people that represent different sciences, and we have to narrow down and choose the things that we really think should be done the next day or two.”

Beyond the Spirit and Opportunity, Lemmon is working on two other projects now being planned. One, the Phoenix Lander, is an immobile Lander that will dig vertically down into the Martian soil to analyze the permafrost that might be buried under layers of topsoil.

“Right now we’re trying to decide exactly where we want to land the Phoenix,” Lemmon said. “There are a lot of people who are giving input. What makes it harder is that it’s impossible to land the Phoenix in any exact spot. We have to find an area big enough so that we can land anywhere in it and still get what we need out of the soil.”

Though as of now it is years into the future, another project in the planning stage is the Mars Science Laboratory.

“The Mars Science Laboratory is huge both as a project and in the number of people in involved. The science team planning this rover is several times larger than that of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers,” Lemmon said. “Right now we’re trying to decide which scientific instruments will be included on the rover itself.”

One of the most exciting features of the Science Laboratory is the advanced cameras that will take detailed pictures of the Martian surface.

“The cameras on the Science Laboratory are really nice. They’re a big leap over the ones on the Spirit and Opportunity,” Lemmon explained. “They’ll be able to shoot color photos in high definition, and will be capable of shooting movies. The zoom on the cameras will also be really useful because it will enable us to make better decisions about where we want to take the rover when we start planning the day to day missions.”

As plans are narrowed down and finalized for the Phoenix, the Science Laboratory, and future projects, it is likely that Lemmon will continue playing a significant role as humans continue the exploration of Mars and beyond.