Top 11 Science Objectives

[mokun]

Based on this book page 3 at https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/28594/chapter/2#2

The 11 top prioritized science objectives are as follows :

1. Determine if, in the exploration zone, evidence can be found for any of the following: habitability, indigenous extant or extinct life, and/or indigenous prebiotic chemistry.
2. Characterize past and present water and CO, cycles and reservoirs within the exploration zone to understand their evolution.
3. Characterize and map the geologic record and potential niche habitats within the exploration zone to reveal Mars's evolution and to provide geologic context to other investigations, including the study of bolide impacts, volcanic and intrusive igneous activity, the sedimentary record, landforms, and volatiles, including liquids and ices.
4. Determine the longitudinal impact of the integrated martian environment on crew physiological, cognitive, and emotional health, including team dynamics, and confirm effectiveness of countermeasures.
5. Determine what controls the onset and evolution of major dust storms, which dominate present-day atmospheric variability.
6. Characterize the martian environment for in situ resource utilization (ISRU) and determine the applications associated with ISRU processing, ultimately for the full range of materials supporting permanent habitation but with an early focus on water and propellants.
7. Determine whether the integrated martian environment affects reproduction or the functional genome across multiple generations in at least one model plant species and one model animal species.
8. Determine throughout the mission whether or not microbial population dynamics and species distribution in biological systems and habitable volumes are stable and are not detrimental to astronaut health and performance.
9. Characterize the effects of martian dust on human physiology and hardware lifetime.
10. Determine the longitudinal impact of the integrated martian environment on plant and animal physiology and development across multiple generations where possible as part of an integrated ecosystem of plants, microbes, and animals.
11. Characterize the primary and secondary radiation at key locations in the crew habitat and astrobiological sampling sites to contextualize sample collection and improve models of future mission risk.

Any comments on how we may implement these objectives concretely in mars-sim ?

[bevans2000]

I think we have to rework the Reporting Authority objectives to match these.
In addition some logic is needed to make the objectives influence how a Settlement selects Missions and Science Studies. I think there is an issue on that already

[mokun]

I think we have to rework the Reporting Authority objectives to match these.

Sure ! We could incorporate some of the best ideas they offer.

Btw, they also define what campaigns are as follows :

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CAMPAIGNS

The steering committee was directed to "identify and prioritize several campaigns that would achieve a subset of the identified highest priority science objectives, where each campaign encompasses the first three landings of human-scale landers on Mars" (Appendix A).

Each campaign the committee created represents one sequence of missions linked to a set of primary and secondary objectives, landing site criteria, and concept of operations.

Primary science objectives are defined as those tied to the landing site choice and are the most important to complete, and secondary science objectives are those that can be conducted at any landing site and/or those that are decoupled from the primary science objectives of the campaign.

Common to all four of the campaigns is the set of biological and physical sciences (BPS) and human factors (HF) research objectives that can be conducted anywhere on Mars (Science Objectives 4, 6, 7, and 8, and parts of Science Objectives 9 and 10, in Table S-1). These are included in all the campaigns to the greatest extent possible. The housing, sampling, analytical, and sample return requirements to execute a nominal BPS/ HF research program are discussed in detail in Chapter 3 and shown in Table 3-3, including intra- and extravehicular activities.

The four campaigns described here each have one of two architectures: three 30-sol missions ("30-30-30") or a 30-sol mission, an uncrewed cargo delivery, and a 300-sol mission ("30-Cargo-300"). They are described in priority order in the text below:

1. Mars Science Across an Expanded Exploration Zone (30-Cargo-300), focused on achieving all science objectives via a single landing site and exploration zone, is described in Section 3.3.

2. Synergy of Mars Science Measurements (30-Cargo-300), optimizing scientific results from the suite of most crucial measurements across all science objectives, is described in Section 3.4.

3. Seeking Life Beneath the Martian Icy Crust (30-Cargo-300), prioritizing the search for extant (currently surviving) life, is described in Section 3.5.

4. Investigating Mars at Three Sites (30-30-30), focused on exploring the heterogeneity of Mars, is described in Section 3.6.

[mokun]

And based on those campaigns that they came up with, they turn those 11 top priority science objectives into either PRIMARY or SECONDARY.

See this table below :