Selecting a suitable landing spot on the Martian surface isn’t as straight forward as it might first seem. As the first astronauts approach Mars, they’ll face the daunting task of landing. We only have to look at previous un-crewed missions to see what could potentially go wrong. The European Space Agency’s Schiaparelli mission was supposed to demonstrate how soft landings could be carried out on the surface of Mars. However, this didn’t go to plan. The spacecraft’s parachute detached too early, sending Schiaparelli into a free-fall for 33 seconds culminating in an impact with Mars’ rocky surface at 350 miles per hour. The only remnants of the mission can be seen in these real images of the impact crater.
Despite our best efforts, humanity as a whole only has about a 50% success rate when it comes to landing on Mars. The good news is that the success rate is increasing as we learn from our past failures and develop more sophisticated landing sequence procedures.
The Martian atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth’s, so it can’t provide the drag required to slow an incoming spacecraft down. This suggests that traditional landing sequences used back here on Earth won’t work on Mars, meaning that space agencies from around the globe are having to get creative. The Mars 2020 mission deployed the Perseverance rover using the revolutionary sky crane, a system which combines parachutes and retrorockets. This slowed the craft down using the equivalent force of a jet engine, allowing the rover to reach Mars’ surface relatively unscathed. This has laid the groundwork for a similar, but more complex system to be used for a future crewed mission to Mars.
So, with all this in mind, what criteria can we draw for a possible manned landing site?
First of all, there will need to be a large amount of flat, open space. The planet has a notoriously difficult terrain to navigate, featuring colossal mountain ranges and plunging canyons which would almost guarantee making a crewed descent fatal, and that’s without considering the millions of rocky boulders which litter Mars’ landscape. Selecting a landing site which is relatively flat should ensure the safety of the crew. This is the most paramount concern of any mission into space, and with the Mars mission taking place literally millions of miles away from home, it’s unlikely to be anything other than the top priority, as a potential rescue mission would be near impossible.
Secondly, the landing site needs to be next to or near an area of scientific intrigue. This will allow the astronauts to collect samples and conduct ground-breaking experiments, which will further our understanding of our mysterious planetary neighbour and potentially the universe as a whole.
Lastly, the landing site should be at a sustainable area in terms of water and energy generation, especially for a long-term mission. This should ensure the safety of the astronauts during the surface phase of the mission, as well as allowing the mission’s longevity to be increased.
Taking these criteria into consideration, scientists have begun putting together a short list of potential landing site candidates; a process that has been tried and tested when selecting landing sites for previous missions such as the numerous Mars rovers. Here’s are our top three speculated candidates:
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