Possible future Mars landing site in Oxia Planum. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.
The joint ESA and Russian ExoMars rover’s top priority is to search the Martian surface for signs of life, past or present, and scientists think they know just the spot where – if life ever existed or exists on Mars – it might be found. Today the ExoMars team announced that the equatorial region named Oxia Planum has been recommended as the primary candidate for the landing site.
“Our preliminary analysis shows that Oxia Planum appears to satisfy the strict engineering constraints while also offering some very interesting opportunities to study, in situ, places where biosignatures might best be preserved,” said Jorge Vago, ESA’s project scientist.
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Read the rest of Scientists Want ExoMars Rover to Land at Oxia Planum (455 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2015. |
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Post tags: exomars, Mars, Missions
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