Arctic Analogue Science as Part of an Integrated Canadian Strategy for Mars Exploration

Introduction: Canada has had a long involvement in space science beginning with the launch of the Canadian satellite Alouette 1, in 1962. However the Canadian Space Agency's involvement in planetary exploration began only in the late 1990's with the contribution of the Thermal Plasma Analyzer (TPA) to the Japanese Nozomi mission. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is now contributing science payloads to the first NASA Scout mission, Phoenix, and NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, and is exploring strategies to integrate existing science and technology capabilities towards a robust planetary exploration program. Underpinning a Canadian exploration strategy, the Canadian Arctic forms a natural asset. Its cold, dry desert environments provide an operational analogue for Mars exploration, and its relatively unweathered impact craters, permafrost regions and arctic springs provide sites where processes relevant to Mars polar science can be studied. Current program elements: Three programs make up the Mars Exploration framework at CSA (Figure 1). The Canadian Analogue Program, including the Canadian Analogue Research Network (CARN) [1], is providing opportunities for a new generation of planetary scientists to apply terrestrial expertise to planetary questions. In 2006, its first summer of operation, the program will support a range of science investigations (Table 1). In parallel, a Mars Instrument Concept Studies opportunity is encouraging the design and development of instruments (Table 2). This is part of an ongoing instrument development program. These two programs can be closely related. Science investigations at analogue sites provide important input to measurement and detection methodologies for planetary missions. Key discoveries from planetary missions depend on drawing conclusions from a limited set of measurements – analysis of data for the presence of a definitive signature. The identification of a signature for primitive life, for example, is a well known challenge that is being addressed through studies of terrestrial analogues [2]. The derivation of new signatures from analogue studies will allow for the design of highly optimized instruments and investigations for the next generation of missions. The RIGID concept (Table 2) is an example where instrument science requirements are being derived with the help of analogue studies at the CARN Mars Arctic Research Station site. Once instrument concepts are in development, operational methodologies for landed missions can be tested at analogue sites. This will expose scientists to the reality of operations in a challenging environment: weather conditions, autonomy, power and bandwidth limitations.

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