Perseverance is going to land in Jezero crater. How was this landing site selected? I assume there were several landing sites that were considered, and different scientists wanted the rover to land in different places. What were they and what makes Jezero crater a better landing site than the other envisioned places?
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
1
-
1$\begingroup$ Closely related question $\endgroup$– JackCommented Jul 11, 2020 at 13:18
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
0
This NASA page describes the landing site selection process:
At the third landing site workshop for the Mars 2020 rover mission on Feb. 8-10, 2017, a team of scientists narrowed down the list of potential places where NASA's Mars 2020 rover may land. Three sites were selected to continue as landing site candidates: Columbia Hills, Jezero Crater, NE Syrtis.
This letter compares the final eight candidates. Jezero Crater is described as:
a well-defined delta environment including the finest-grained facies deemed most favorable for organic concentration and preservation, a large and geologically diverse headwaters region emptying into an open, deep lake, and an intriguing carbonate-bearing unit that may preserve a record of the ancient martian carbon cycle.
The attributes that favoured Jezero Crater therefore seem to be that it is a geologically diverse site with clear evidence of flowing water emptying into a deep lake in the past.
