Donald L.

Savage
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

April 2, 1992
(Phone: 202/453-8400)

Release: 92-45

NASA SELECTS Participating ScientistS for Mars Observer mission

NASA has announced the selection of 33 participating

scientists to take part in a wide range of investigations on the
Mars Observer mission, planned for launch Sept. 16, 1992. These
scientists will be added to the current science teams in October
1992 to increase the range of studies planned for the 2-year
global mapping mission. Team leaders and interdisciplinary
scientists were selected for Mars Observer in 1986.

"We are very glad to be able to provide this new scientific

talent to the Mars Observer mission," said Dr. Wesley T. Huntress,
Jr., Director of NASA's Solar System Exploration Division. "Mars
Observer is the most complex mission we have ever flown to Mars,
and it has a huge task to raise our understanding of Mars to a new
level by obtaining long-term orbital data about the whole planet."

Mars Observer, America's first mission to Mars in more than

15 years, will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., by
a Titan-III expendable launch vehicle built by Martin Marietta
Corp. The spacecraft itself will ride on the new Transfer Orbit
Stage built by Orbital Sciences Corp., which will send the
spacecraft out of Earth orbit on its way to Mars.

In August 1993, after an 11-month interplanetary cruise, the

spacecraft will reach Mars where it will fire its on-board engines
and enter a nearly polar orbit at an altitude of 240 miles. The
spacecraft's seven instruments will record the global
characteristics of Mars for slightly more than a full martian year
(687 Earth days) to watch a full cycle of changes in the martian
seasons. By early 1996, the spacecraft will have returned to
Earth more than 600 billion bits of scientific data, more than has
been collected by the nearly two dozen previous missions flown to
Mars by the U.S. and the former U.S.S.R.

Besides representing U.S. universities and research centers,

the newly-selected group of participating scientists include 4
individuals from the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Six
scientists from Austria, the United Kingdom, France and Germany
are already involved in the mission and a group of 10
participating scientists from Russia will be added later this
year.
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Some of the 33 participating scientists will work with one

of the seven instrument-related science teams. The instruments
carried by Mars Observer are a gamma-ray detector to measure the
chemical composition of the surface; a laser altimeter to measure
the shape and topography of the surface; an infrared detector to
measure surface mineral composition; a different infrared detector
to measure the composition and behavior of the martian atmosphere;
a magnetometer to measure the planet's magnetic field; and a
camera to photograph the landscape at resolutions ranging from a
few kilometers to several meters. In addition, careful tracking
of the spacecraft's radio signal will make it possible to map the
gravity field of Mars and some features of its atmospheric
structure.

Other participating scientists will work with one of six

interdisciplinary science teams, which will combine data collected
by several different instruments to probe general questions of
Mars' geology, atmospheric behavior, surface weathering, the
influence of the polar caps and the migration of water and carbon
dioxide between the atmosphere, the polar caps and the martian
surface layer.

The wide range of Mars Observer science investigations will

focus on solving several mysteries which were revealed but not
settled by earlier U.S. missions to Mars, such as whether or not
Mars has a magnetic field, where the water has gone and
determining the mineral and chemical composition of martian soil
and bedrock. The information gathered on the planet's
gravitational field, atmospheric structure and surface topography
and properties will be crucial to future human exploration of
Mars.

"Mars Observer's mission is to make the first-ever global

scientific inventory of an entire planet," said Dr. Bevan M.
French, NASA's Program Scientist for the mission. "Mars is a
complex world. Parts of it are like the Moon, with ancient rocks
that preserve a record of intense meteorite bombardment during the
early years of the solar system. Other parts of Mars are younger
and more dynamic, like the Earth. These places have volcanoes,
great fractures in the crust and large channels cut by running
water a billion or two years ago."

"Mars also has polar ice caps, an atmosphere, clouds, frost,

wind and sand dunes," he continued. "We want to understand how
Mars formed and changed over time, why parts of it are similar to
Earth and why other parts are utterly different."

Mars Observer also will support data collection by the

Russian Mars-94 mission, which is planned to arrive at Mars in
late 1995 and land small stations on the planet's surface. A
communications relay on the Mars Observer spacecraft will relay
data from the surface stations to Earth. Depending on the
lifetime of the spacecraft, the same relay might be available
later to send back data collected from Mars-96, a subsequent
Russian mission that also will launch balloons into the martian
atmosphere.

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Some of the Mars Observer's participating scientist

investigations will look beyond Mars and even beyond the solar
system. These include studies to detect and make high-resolution
measurements of the mysterious gamma-ray "burster" events, studies
of gamma-rays produced by violent high-energy flares on the Sun,
and the first deep-space search for gravity waves using the
extraordinarily precise tracking data from the Mars Observer
communication system. Gravity waves are a fundamental phenomenon
predicted by Einstein's Theory of Relativity but have yet to be
detected.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages

the Mars Observer project for the Office of Space Science and
Applications at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

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Editor's Note: A list of the newly-selected participating

scientists assigned to the seven instrument-related science teams
and to the six interdisciplinary science teams is available by
calling 202/453-8400.
MARS OBSERVER PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS
(Listed by Team Membership)

(NOTE: Only Participating Scientists were selected at this time.

Team Leaders
and Interdisciplinary Scientists were selected for Mars Observer
in 1986.)

1. INSTRUMENT-RELATED TEAMS

TEAM: Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS)

BRUCKNER, Johannes (Max Planck Institute, GERMANY)

"Experimental and theoretical simulations of the
gamma-ray
emission of Mars: implications for the chemical
analysis of its
surface"

DRAKE, Darrell M. (Los Alamos National Laboratory)

"Study of martian volatiles via coupled
neutron-gamma-ray fluxes"

EVANS, Larry G. (Computer Science Corporation)

"Elemental composition and background determination for
the Mars
 Observer Gamma-Ray Spectrometer"

LAROS, John G. (Los Alamos National Laboratory)

"Gamma-ray burst studies using GRS"

STARR, Richard D. (Catholic University)

"Analysis of X-ray and gamma-ray emissions from solar
flares
detected by the gamma-ray spectrometer"

TEAM: Magnetometer/Electron Reflectometer (MAG/ER)

MENVIELLE, M. (University of Paris, FRANCE)

"Study of the magnetic field of Mars with surface and
satellite
data"

MOHLMANN, Diedrich (German Aerospace Research Establishment

(DLR),
GERMANY)
"Simultaneous and correlated magnetic measurements
(SCMM)"

SLAVIN, James A. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

"An investigation of the Mars solar wind interaction and
intrinsic
magnetic field"

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TEAM: Mars Observer (Science) Camera (MOC)

DAVIES, Merton E. (RAND Corporation)

"The planetwide geodetic control network of Mars"

HARTMANN, William K. (Planetary Science Institute)

"Nature and duration of martian climate changes, studied
through
martian craters and other geomorphic indicators"

JAMES, Philip B. (University of Toledo)

"Behavior of clouds and polar condensates on Mars"

McEWEN, Alfred S. (U.S. Geological Survey)

"Martian color and albedo variations"

THOMAS, Peter C. (RAND Corporation)

"Eolian sediments, seasonal changes, and topography of
Mars
studied with the Mars Observer Camera"

TEAM: Mars Observer Laser Altimeter (MOLA)

 BANERDT, W. Bruce (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
"MOLA Participating Scientist: geophysical modelling of
Mars"

DUXBURY, Thomas C. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

"MOC Geosciences: geodesy, cartography, and topography"

TEAM: Pressure Modulator Infrared Radiometer (PMIRR)

ALLISON, Michael D. (Goddard Institute for Space Sciences)

"Martian general circulation statistics via the
objective analysis
of PMIRR data"

BARNES, Jeffrey R. (Oregon State University)

"Extratropical eddies in the atmospheric circulation and
climate
system of Mars"

MARTIN, Terry Z. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

"Atmospheric studies with the Mars Horizon Sensor
Assembly"

READ, Peter L. (University of Oxford, ENGLAND)

"Baroclinic wave dynamics and orographic influences in
the
martian atmosphere: model/data comparisons using PMIRR"
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TEAM: Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES)

CLANCY, R. Todd (University of Colorado)

"Visible dust and cloud opacities from Mars Observer"

CONRATH, Barney J. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

"Investigation of the structure and dynamics of the
martian
atmosphere using thermal emission spectra"

ROUSCH, Ted L. (San Francisco State University)

"Collection, reduction, and interpretation of thermal
emission
spectrometer data and their relationship to
volatile-bearing
minerals on Mars"

TEAM: Radio Science (RS)

ARMSTRONG, John W. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

 "A search for low-frequency gravitational radiation
using the Mars
Observer telecommunications system"

FLASAR, F. Michael (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

"Meteorological studies of Mars from Radio Science
observations"

SIMPSON, Richard A. (Stanford University)

"Bistatic radar studies of Mars surface"

2. INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE TEAMS:

TEAM: Interdiscipolinary Scientist (Atmospheres/Climartology)

HABERLE, Robert M. (NASA Ames Research Center)

"The role of atmospheric transport in the current
seasonal water
cycle on Mars"

TEAM: Interdisciplinary Scientist (Data Management/Surface

Weathering)

FEGLEY, Bruce (Washington University, St. Louis)

"Constraints on martian chemical weathering from Mars
Observer Data"

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TEAM: Interdisciplinary Scientist (Geosciences)

GOLUMBEK, Matthew (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

"Structural geology of Mars"

McSWEEN, Harry Y. (University of Tennessee)

"Petrologic map of bedrock for Mars Observer"

TEAM: Interdisciplinary Scientist (Polar Atmospheric Sciences)

HOUBEN, Howard (Space Physics Research Institute)

"Meteorological analyses and short-term forecasting with
Mars
Observer data"

TEAM: Interdisciplinary Scientist (Surface-Atmosphere

Interactions)
 ZENT, Aaron P. (SETI Institute)
"Mars Observer surface-atmosphere interaction IDS
Support"

TEAM: Interdisciplinary Scientist (Surface Properties and

Morphology)

HERKENHOFF, Ken (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

"Topography and composition of the polar layered
deposits on Mars"

MURRAY, Bruce C. (California Institute of Technology)

"Mars Observer participating scientist program"

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