Analysis and Selection of Landing Areas for Mars Mission

Abstract

In this paper，based on the（Digital Elevation Model）data，remote sensing imagery and geological units，the priority landing areas were selected by combining the engineering constraints（terrain factors，ground bearing capacity，elevation and latitude）and scientific significance，and geological background of these priority landing areas was studied. Firstly，terrain factors（including slope and roughness）of the tentative sub-area were extracted derived from DEM data. And the areas meeting engineering constraints，which have lower slope（< 7.38°），roughness value（< 0.0096），stronger ground bearing capacity，elevation（< –2 km）and latitude（0～30°N），were selected. Then，based on the two research focuses of life and geology，the areas containing the scientific significance were chosen as the priority landing areas（a～h）. Among them，a and b priority landing areas are located in the Chryse Planitia，c～g priority landing areas are located in the Isidis Planitia and h priority landing area is located in the Nepenthes Planum. Finally，the geological backgrounds of the eight areas were studied，and three priority landing areas（e～g）were considered as the highest priority landing areas because of their flat terrain，location at the boundary of two geological units and detection of the distribution of hydrous minerals.

Keywords

Mars exploration mission / landing areas selection / engineering constraints / geological background / hydrous mineral