Participation in Mars Pathfinder Mission

The USGS has been a partner with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in space exploration for more than 30 years. Scientists in the USGS Flagstaff, Arizona, Field Center are involved in an extensive cooperative program for NASA's Mars Pathfinder Mission.

USGS Astrogeology Team scientists participate in the mission in two ways. They provide all cartographic products to be used by Pathfinder and other scientists around the world in their individual investigations. They also produce a variety of specially processed individual images, as well as panoramic and map-view renditions of the landing site that will be used by the global community to characterize the landing site.

Survey scientists also carry out their own topical scientific research. Their major goals are to describe the processes that are actively modifying the surface of Mars and to understand the geologic history of the Pathfinder landing site. In pursuing these goals, the team identifies and quantifies evidence for erosive and chemical processes acting on the rocks and soils of the planet.

Examples of individual processes include abrading and grooving of rock surfaces and dust sedimentation and dune formation controlled by strong winds. From studying the patterns formed on surfaces of different ages and formed over different lengths of time, the team will be able to develop models of the nature and rates of surface modification over time scales ranging from a single season to millions of years.

As USGS continues to gain new knowledge about the history of Mars, this information will provide increasingly valuable

insights into the workings of the solar system as a whole. Such knowledge is essential if our Nation is to understand fully the story of how our own world developed.