›Low-Cost Science Mission Concepts for Mars Exploration

Workshop Location and Dates

The Low-Cost Science Mission Concepts for Mars Exploration workshop is scheduled for January 11–13, 2022, at The Westin Pasadena, 191 North Los Robles, Pasadena, California.

Purpose and Scope

Emerging small spacecraft capabilities and innovative new mission concepts offer opportunities for compelling science discoveries at Mars at unprecedented low costs. NASA’s Mars Exploration Program invites the Mars community, including scientists, engineers, technologists, and industry representatives, to this three-day workshop to share ideas and approaches for low-cost exploration of the Red Planet. Here, “low-cost” equates to mission costs that fall well below the current Discovery Program cost cap. The recent Mars Architecture Strategy Working Group suggested that small spacecraft missions in the $100–$300M cost range (including delivery) may offer a sweet spot in terms of achievable science per unit cost.

Specific topics of interest for this workshop include:

• Assessment of strategic Mars science questions well-suited to investigation via low-cost, small spacecraft missions
• Candidate low-cost mission concepts, relating science objectives to investigations, instruments, and spacecraft architecture
• Small spacecraft capabilities for both orbital and landed Mars missions
• Innovative mission design approaches, including piggyback, rideshare, and new small launch vehicle capabilities for low-cost delivery of payloads to Mars
• New miniatured instruments, avionics, and subsystems enabling highly capable small spacecraft
• Opportunities for international and commercial partnerships
• Emerging commercial NewSpace capabilities that can be leveraged for low-cost Mars exploration

The workshop will provide a forum for a rich set of contributed presentations, an interactive poster session, along with invited talks and panel discussions to explore these topics. The workshop is currently being planned as an in-person event to maximize opportunities for open and creative exchange of ideas among all participants; however, this may be adjusted based on health and safety circumstances.

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