Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher
The essential energy, water, and nutrient requirements to support and sustain life on Mars are currently present, and the Martian geologic record offers tantalizing clue of many ancient habitable environments.While this strategy has been highly successful in the Mars missions of 1996-2007, it is increasingly appreciated that assessing the full astrobiological potential of Martian environments requires going beyond the identification of locations where liquid water was present.Thus, in order to seek signs of past or present life on Mars, it is necessary to characterize more comprehensively the macroscopic and microscopic fabric of sedimentary materials.To provide a name that fit the mission concept better, it was changed in August 2009 from the generic Mid-Range Rover (MRR) to Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C).[7] In April 2011, because of a budgeting crisis, a proposal was announced to fly only one rover in 2018 that would be larger than either of the vehicles in the paired concept, ExoMars (ESA) and MAX-C (NASA).[12][13] The proposed MAX-C mission would have arrived at Mars in January 2019 in the northern hemisphere during winter, given the favorable atmospheric pressure at this season and performance of the 'sky crane' delivery system.This tool would be intended to remove small amounts of surface material in order to allow instruments access past any dust and/or weathering layer.[13] A cost of $70M was estimated to fund the technology development activities;[7] the mission concept would require technology development in four key areas:[3][7] Based on a draft project schedule and a full JPL team experimental study, total project cost in dollars, not including launch vehicle, was estimated to be between $1.5-2.0 Billion.
ExoMarssolar poweredCuriosity roverastrobiologicalhabitability potentialMars 2020Perseverancelife on MarsbiosignaturesMartian lifesedimentary materialsMars Science LaboratoryPhoenixMars Exploration RoverPerseverance roverpreservation potentialhabitabilityAstrobiologyRadiometric datingcore drillcore samplesperchlorateSpirit and Opportunity MERsNear-IR Spectrometermicroscopic imagerRaman spectroscopyAlpha particle X-ray spectrometerorganic compoundsMars sample return missionAstrobiology Field LaboratoryBiological Oxidant and Life DetectionExploration of MarsSigns Of LIfe DetectorViking programJet Propulsion LaboratoryWayback MachineBibcodeSpacecraft missionsList of missions to MarsList of Mars orbitersList of artificial objects on MarsFlybysPsycheEuropa ClipperOrbiters2001 Mars OdysseyMars ExpressMars Reconnaissance OrbitertimelineExoMars Trace Gas OrbiterRoversCuriosityMars 1Mariner 4Zond 2Mariner 6 and 7Mars 6Mars 7RosettaMars Cube OneMars 2Mars 3Mariner 9Mars 4Mars 5Viking 1Viking 2Phobos programPhobos 1Phobos 2Mars ObserverMars Global SurveyorNozomiMars Climate OrbiterMangalyaanLandersMars PathfinderMars Polar LanderDeep Space 2Beagle 2ExoMars SchiaparelliInSightTianwen-1 landerPrOP-MSojournerSpiritOpportunityZhurongAircraftIngenuity helicopterflightsMars 1M No.11M No.22MV-4 No.12MV-3 No.1Mariner 3Mars 2M No.5212M No.522Mariner 8Mars 3MS No.170Mars 96Fobos-GruntYinghuo-1EscaPADETera-hertz Explorer (TEREX)Martian Moons eXploration (MMX)Mangalyaan-2Tianwen-3Rosalind FranklinMBR ExplorerNASA-ESA Mars Sample ReturnMars Sample Recovery HelicoptersKazachokMAGGIESpaceX Mars programMars-GruntAerial Regional-scale Environmental SurveyBeagle 3DePhineIcebreaker LifeMarsokhodMars 4NM & 5NMMars 5M (Mars-79)Mars-AsterMars Geyser HopperMars Exploration Ice Mapper