Future Mars Outpost architecture

NASA´s Mars Exploration Program includes science goals related to life, climate, geology, and preparation for human exploration. Many of the investigations needed to reach these goals are enabled by long-term, continuous surface presence with logistical support. These capabilities can be provided by a progressive series of missions that establish and maintain a long-lived robotic presence, i.e. a Mars Outpost. To investigate the issues associated with robotic outpost design, the JPL Mars Long Range Planning Team developed and studied a heuristic outpost scenario. Major goals of the study included identifying: (1) which science objectives benefit from an outpost setting, (2) technology needs to fulfill mission requirements, and (3) operational/logistical challenges associated with multi-mission planning. This paper describes an outpost designed with the aforementioned goals in mind. The design focuses on subsurface mapping and characterization, accomplished through seismic mapping and deep drilling