TIL: Choosing a Mars Landing Spot is Harder Than You Think | Today I Learned

If you have an entire planet to explore, where do you go? Mars is a place where we can get rovers on the ground, but what is the one site that will tell us the most about Mars?

So first, can we land there? Is it safe? Second, do we want to land there, and is this the best site for this mission?

And third, once we get there, what exactly do we do? And what if our rover lasts longer than we expect? What do we do next? How do we keep exploring?

There are many reasons that we want to go to Mars. The first big one is: why did Mars transition from what was once a warmer, wetter world to the cold, dry planet we see today? The other is: could Mars host habitats even today?

We could go to a former lake. We could go to a deep canyon. We could go to an ancient volcano. Once the specific area is narrowed down, that's where the detailed assessment really begins.

We need to absolutely get the landing site process right in terms of safety. Every pixel in the highest resolution images that we have on the surface is scrutinized for rocks that might be challenging to the landing system or obstacles that might inhibit rover driving.

But there is no wrong choice from a science perspective. We will learn something wherever we are. It's just some choices could be more right than others in terms of the big picture understanding of Mars history or evidence for past life.

Everything you see on a spacecraft is usually designed and built by a mechanical engineer, and I get to do that. My fundamental job is to design and build hardware that goes out and explores our universe.