There is a possibility of NASA sending another mission to the South Pole of Mars to explore and photograph the amazing
Geysers of Mars which erupt every Martian Spring.
It would replace the 'Mars Polar Lander', supposed to have landed at the Martian South Pole, but which ceased communicating back in December 1999, and was presumed to have
crashed.
As did the European Space Beagle2, that was destined to land in the same area ...That was also lost.
These Martian Geysers appear every spring around the Martian South Pole Cap, and are unlike anything terrestial back
here on Earth.
They might have something to do with the huge Martian South Polar ice Cap...which is as big as Texas in area.
Recent Radar scans confirm its thickness, while NASA states that were it to melt it would cover the whole of Mars
in water to a depth of 36 feet.
However the annual Martian Geysers may not be water geysers, but could be a mixture of Carbon Dioxide and sand.
Looking at the Hi-Rise photographs of these geysers ...there are dozens of them , if not hundreds, all showing up as black spidery spots.
Their growth is very rapid, which would suggest they are due to geyser activity......But interestingly, these spots when they erupt on a hillside, travel up hill as much as downhill.
Thats different from how a liguid geyser acts?
This has a group of Scientists to suggest that the dark dune spots and channels may be colonies of photosynthetic Martian
microorganisms, which over-winter beneath the ice cap, and as the sunlight returns to the pole during early spring, light
penetrates the ice, allowing the microorganisms to photosynthesise and heat their immediate surroundings.
A pocket of liquid water, which would normally evaporate instantly in the thin Martian atmosphere, is trapped around them by the overlying ice.
As this ice layer thins, the microorganisms show through grey. When it has completely melted, they rapidly desiccate and turn
black surrounded by a grey aureole.
British and German teams also consider the possibility that organic matter, microbes, or even simple plants might co-exist
with these inorganic formations, especially if the mechanism includes liquid water and a geothermal energy source.
The only way to tell is for yet another Lander to succesfully check out this area.
NASA is contemplating a Mars Geyser Hopper mission.
The projected would cost $350 million USD and to meet a cost cap of no more than $425 million USD, not including the launch cost.
It must have a March 1, 2016 launch date requirement (or no later than December 31, 2016) to land during the Mars
southern summer. In order to reduce the cost and minimize risk, the spacecraft concept is based on a previous spacecraft
design, the Mars Phoenix lander, which has a demonstrated a flight heritage that incorporates soft landing capability and
incorporates a restartable rocket propulsion system, suitable to be repurposed for this mission requirements.
The spacecraft would land at a target landing area near the south pole of Mars, where geysers exist over a stretch of
several hundred kilometers with densities of at least one geyser every 1 to 2 kilometres (0.62 to 1.2 mi) and have the ability to "hop" at least twice from its landed location after a Summertime landing, to reposition itself close to a geyser site, and wait through the winter, until the first sunlight of spring to witness first-hand, the Martian geyser phenomenon and investigate the debris, pattern, channel growth, and material.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_geyser
