Landing Site Features

[MrBreadWater]

• Visual frequency analysis
• Topology analysis
• Mineral/Thermal analysis
• Atmospheric Dust

[RickATC]

Engineering Constraints for the Mars Exploration Rover

Table 3 from https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2003JE002074

MER Mission Engineering Parameter	Requirement for MER Mission Landing Sites
Altitude	less than or equal to −1.3 km w.r.t. MOLA defined geoid
Approximate ellipse dimensions	∼155 km × 16 km at 11°N, ∼96 km × 19 km at 15°S
Approximate ellipse orientation	∼94° at 11°N to 76° at 15°S (clockwise from north)
Site separation	central angle ∼37°
Latitude (MER-A and MER-B)	5°N to 15°S and 10°N to 10°S
1 km length-scale slopes	must be less than 2°
100 m length-scale slopes	must be less than 5°
10 m length-scale slopes	must be less than 15°
Minimal relief	smooth and flat in Viking MDIM
Rock abundance	should be <20% (from thermal inertia)
Minimal hazardous rocks	Should be <1% larger than 0.5 m high
Trafficability	minimal decimeter-scale roughness from radar
Horizontal winds (shear/turbulence)	generally ≤0.9/≤2.1 wrt MPF model
Horizontal winds (sustained mean)	must impact surface at <16–21 m/sec
Acceptable vertical winds	must impact surface at <12–15 m/sec
Minimum temperature at site	warmer than −97°C
Thermal inertia	greater than 200–250 SI units (see albedo)
Albedo	less than 0.18 and 0.26 (see thermal inertia)
Local dust environment	relatively dust-free from MGS TES thermal inertia, albedo, and dust index
Surface must be load bearing	radar and thermal inertia
Radar reflectivity	must be >0.03

[hlakams]

Chosen features:

• Elevation
• Dust cover index
• Temperate

Potential features:

• Thermal inertia
• Albedo