As the Mars rover Curiosity celebrated its second year anniversary on the Red Planet this year, scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have attributed many of the agency's crucial discoveries on the Martian surface to the six-wheeled spacecraft. A NASA panel, however, is not as satisfied with the returns of investments on the Curiosity mission.
NASA revealed on Wednesday that it has renewed the funding of seven ongoing planetary exploration missions but of these, the space agency's Planetary Mission Senior Review panel, which reviewed and rated these planetary missions, was particularly critical of the Curiosity, which also happens to be the newest and the second costliest of the seven missions.
The panel is disappointed that given the capabilities of the Curiosity rover, the team behind it only intends to take and analyze eight samples in two years, which translates to two samples from each of the four units it will visit during its extended mission. The Curiosity is the only NASA tool with the capabilities to detect carbon, do in situ age analysis, and measure ionizing particle flux.
"The panel viewed this as a poor science return for such a large investment in a flagship mission," the report of the panel reads.
The panel also pointed out that the rover driving long distances could reduce the amount of time it could spend to examine the clays on Mars, which could provide information on the habitability of the planet, and failed to address what could be the future role of the rover's remote sensing equipment and one of its cameras. It also pointed out that the proposal of the team behind the Curiosity mission was lacking in scientific questions and testable hypotheses, among others.
"The panel essentially said, 'Drive less and do more science,'" NASA's lead program executive for planetary mission operations Bill Knopf said.
Its assessment of the Curiosity mission that it lack scientific focus and details has prompted the review panel to recommend that the Curiosity team focus on high quality science that could justify the rover's capabilities and the investments made for the mission and more so because future missions on Mars will heavily rely on the findings of the Curiosity.
"The panel strongly urges NASA HQ to get the Curiosity team focused on maximizing high-quality science that justifies the capabilities of and capital investment in Curiosity," the panel said.
