Data from THEMIS is helping scientists choose a landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), NASA's next-generation rover spacecraft, due for launch in 2009.
MSL's mission is to collect Martian soil and rock samples and analyze them for organic compounds, looking for environmental conditions that could have supported microbial life now or in the past. At a workshop in October 2007, scientists chose 6 sites (PDF) as possible landing site locations: Nili Fossae Trough, Holden Crater Fan, Marwth Vallis, Eberswalde Crater, Miyamoto, and North Meridiani. Further analysis of these regions will be performed, and the final landing site will be selected in Summer 2009.
Additional information about the MSL mission is available at:
Data from instruments orbiting Mars that are targeting these sites can be viewed at the following websites:
In 2006, scientists identified 36 candidate sites (PDF) for further study. The sites are listed in priority order as defined by the scientists at the MSL Landing Site Workshop.