February 2024 workshop: Breakout Session, Mars Science and Architecture¶
Document: 07-2024-architecture-workshop-breakout-session-mars-science-and-architecture.pdf, 6 slides, 549,636
bytes, from https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/, fetched 2026-10-01T18:28:03Z
(sources/manifest.csv). Title slide: "Breakout Session: Mars Science and Architecture" (slide 1). No presenter or
date. Footer: "2024 Moon to Mars Architecture Workshops". Listed on the
Architecture Workshops page under "February 2024". Text:
sources/text/docs/2024-02-07-2024-architecture-workshop-breakout-session-mars-science-and-architecture.txt;
images in sources/raw/slides/2024-02-07-2024-architecture-workshop-breakout-session-mars-science-and-architecture/.
Rank and method. A breakout briefing, not the architecture of record (SCHEMA, "Workshop slides"), older than Rev B and Rev C. It briefs no white paper, but points to the 2023 human health and performance paper, which the wiki doesn't hold. All 6 slides were read in the text layer; the images of the text-poor slide 6 and of slide 3 were viewed, the title card (slide 1) wasn't. The text has no "Moon Base", "CUI" or "Pre-Decisional" (searched).
Summary. What drives the architecture from Mars science and from crew health research, with four questions for the room. It adds to the wiki: two studies under way in 2024 (a National Academies "Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars" and a MEPAG Tiger Team on human-mission science objectives) with the Tiger Team's five themes; the statement that crew health research has "Minimal architectural drivers" on Mars itself; three high-level Mars science objectives; and a table of six crew health and performance ("CHP") objectives.
Slides¶
| Slide | Title (as printed) | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Breakout Session: Mars Science and Architecture" | Title card |
| 2 | "Mars Science Drivers" | Drivers |
| 3 | "Mars Architecture Considerations" | Considerations (image) |
| 4 | "Potential Discussion Topics" | Questions |
| 5 | "Backup" | Three objectives |
| 6 | "Backup – CHP high level objectives" | Six objectives (image) |
Drivers (slides 2–3)¶
Slide 2, "Mars Science Drivers":
- "Decadal-level science objectives and decades of community input"
- "NASEM study underway - A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars"
- "MEPAG Tiger Team on Mars Human-Mission Science Objectives": "Local discovery responsiveness: geological site investigation, sample selection"; "Access wide variety of terrain in short amount of time: quickly identify scientifically compelling sites, diverse sample collection"; "Local surface measurements & laboratory analysis: discovery responsive to maximize quality observations and collections, prioritize samples for return"; "Optimize placement of science instrumentation"; "Operating and troubleshooting complex science instruments".
- "Crew Health and Performance Research (driven by Health and Medical Technical Authority risk reduction priorities and not decadal surveys)": "Minimal architectural drivers for characterizing crew health and performance on Mars. Most measures will be done in coordination with Space Medicine Operations and done in-situ."; "Architectural drivers for the human are covered in the Human Health and Performance White Paper (e.g. Radiation exposure, gravity changes, closed environments)" (its briefing).
At the same workshop SMD listed "High Priority Science Campaigns for Human Explorers on the Surface of Mars" among its "Upcoming Academy / SDT Studies" (Mission Directorate Panel, slide 7); whether that is the National Academies study named here, the slides don't say. Neither study is among the wiki's sources.
Slide 3, "Mars Architecture Considerations": "In-situ field measurements and sample collection"; "Deploying instrumentation networks (in advance of humans and by humans)"; "Robotics, scientific tools/instruments, and remote sensing to assess Martian environments"; "Responsive communications between Earth & Mars (disruption and delay tolerant)"; "Surface power, mobility systems"; "Planetary protection"; "Mission duration, crew size". Pictures around a Mars globe (an orbiter, a rover, a drill, a habitat, a relay diagram), uncaptioned.
Questions and backup (slides 4–6)¶
Slide 4, "Potential Discussion Topics". "Session Objective: How well does the architecture effort address science drivers". Questions: "1. Is there a gap in how NASA is collecting information for science and crew health and performance characterization and countermeasures? 2. Are there communities of practice that we should engage? 3. What types of scientific discoveries and objectives can be accomplished on the surface/locality of Mars with proximal human explorers (vs analysis on Earth)? What architecture components need to be considered to enable these capabilities? 4. What science and human health observations are necessary to be conducted in LEO and on Artemis Missions to be ready for humans to perform science on Mars?" Beside them: "nasa.gov/architecture".
Slide 5, "Backup", "High-Level Objectives":
- "Astrobiology: Determine if life ever developed on Mars, including assessment of the extent organic, abiotic chemical evolution and the distribution of liquid-water environments and their habitability over time"
- "Climate and Volatiles: Understand the processes and history of water and climate change on Mars, including the timing of major events and transitions form the ancient environment through more recent geological time sand into the modern climate" ("form" and "time sand" as printed)
- "Geology/Geophysics/Geochemistry: Understand the physical record of planetary evolution from planetary formation until today and the processes driving the evolution of the surface, crust, and interior of Mars and how they compare to Earth and other planets"
The slide doesn't say whose objectives these are, and the wiki hasn't matched them to the Moon to Mars objectives (Objectives).
Slide 6, "Backup – CHP high level objectives", read from the image: a table of six Moon to Mars objectives under "OBJ" and "DESCRIPTION": "OP-1L", "OP-6L", "OP-7LM", "HBS-01LM", "HBS-02LM", "HBS-03LM". The wordings match the lunar decomposition's OP-01 L, OP-06 L, OP-07 LM and HBS-01 LM to HBS-03 LM (Lunar objectives), with one 2023 variant: OP-1's "surface of the Moon" (capital M), where the 2022 list has "moon"; HBS-02 keeps the 2022 "crew health & performance systems" (Objectives, 2023 variants; the comparison is the wiki's).
What changed by Rev C¶
These comparisons are the wiki's.
- Science priorities for Mars are still open. MD-01, "Initial Human Mars Segment Science Objectives Priorities", is unshaded in the 2025 "Architecture Definition" paper's Table One (Key definition tasks).
- The considerations on slide 3 are now subjects of Rev C gaps and tasks: planetary protection (#1202, MD-10, MD-11), communications disruption (MD-12), surface power (#0902, MD-07 closed), crew size (MD-05 closed, MD-06 open).
Oddities¶
As printed, images checked:
- "OP-1L" and "OP-6L" without zero padding beside "HBS-01LM" (slide 6).
- "form" for "from" and "time sand" (slide 5).
Related pages¶
Humans to Mars · Science objectives and the decadal surveys · Human Systems · Key definition tasks · Human health and performance briefing, February 2024 · Mission Directorate Panel, February 2024