Mission Involvement

MCMC personnel and their predecessors have been involved in nearly every US mission to Mars since Mariner 4 successfully flew by the red planet in the summer of 1965. Though the primary goal of most of these missions was not atmospheric science, most did carry instruments to observe various aspects of the atmosphere and in many instances, members of our group played a pivotal role in defining the science goals and measurement requirements for some of them, including Mariner 9, Viking, Mars Observer, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Pathfinder, and the Mars Science Laboratory. The Ames group has also proposed Discovery class missions for network and orbital missions focused on atmospheric science. While these missions were not selected, they did raise awareness of the key science goals for future atmospheric science missions. Additionally, the Ames GCM (the primary focus of the MCMC) has been used not only to predict and interpret data from these missions, but to provide extensive guidance to mission planners for EDL studies of landed missions such as Phoenix and InSight, and real-time operational support for aerobraking activities of orbiter missions such as MGS, Odyssey, and MRO. We fully expect that the MCMC will continue to be involved in future Mars missions, particularly when human missions to Mars become a reality.