NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Overview:

MARTE is a project that developed drilling, sample handling, and instrument technologies relevant to searching for life in the martian subsurface, and demonstrating them in a field test at a site with a Mars-analog subsurface biosphere on Earth. The drilling system was developed by Honeybee robotics for future use on Mars. The drill could bring to the surface 10-inch (25-centimeter) core segments at one-inch (2.5-centimeter) diameter while operating on low power without the use of drilling fluids. An automated core and sample handling facility extracted the cores from the drill and passed them to a suite of instruments on a lander platform. Cores were examined by remote sensing instruments including a panoramic context imager, microscopic imager, and a visible-near infrared hyperspectral imager.

Media contact:

John Bluck
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650-604-5026
Email: jbluck@mail.arc.nasa.gov

Key Mission People

Carol Stoker research scientist at of NASA Ames, and Mars Analog Rio Tinto Experiment (MARTE) principal investigator+ Audio Interview

Related links:

Mars Analog Rio Tinto Experiment (MARTE)
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/technology-onepagers/marte.html

Oct. 5, 2005
M.A.R.T.E Chronicle Drill Simulation
The Mission Simulation directed by the science team located at Centro de Astrobiologia in Madrid began on schedule on Sept. 5, 2005.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/lifeonearth/marte-drillsim.html

2005
Mars Astrobiology Research and Technology Experiment --
The discovery of near surface ground ice by the Mars Odyssey mission and the abundant evidence for recent Gulley features observed by the Mars Global Surveyor mission support longstanding theoretical arguments for subsurface liquid water on Mars.
http://marte.arc.nasa.gov/

Oct. 5, 2005
M.A.R.T.E. Chronicle Integration
With the drill core service module positioned at the drill site we were ready to install the various subsystems.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/lifeonearth/marte-integration.html

Oct. 5, 2005
M.A.R.T.E. Chronicle Field Site
The MARTE Mission Simulation 2005 began on August 10th with the drilling assessment conducted at Las Zarandas.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/lifeonearth/marte-fieldsite.html

July 5, 2005
NASA Field-Tests the First System Designed to Drill for Subsurface Martian Life
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/exploringtheuniverse/marsdrill.html

Mission Simulation 2005 – Pena Del Hierro --
http://marte.arc.nasa.gov/mission_simm_05.htm

Sept. 22, 2003
SCIENTISTS PRACTICE MARS DRILLING NEAR ACIDIC SPANISH RIVER --
To develop techniques to drill into the surface of Mars to look for signs of life, NASA and Spanish scientists recently began drilling 150 meters (495 feet) into the ground near the source of the waters of the Rio Tinto, a river in southwestern Spain, part of a three-year effort that will include the search for underground life forms.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2003/03_74AR.html
related images:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2003/03images/tinto/tinto.html
related audio:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/audio/tinto/tintoaudio.html
frequently asked questions:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/factsheets/FS-100103.1ARC.html

April 8, 2003
NASA SCIENTISTS TO DRILL FOR NEW, EXOTIC LIFE NEAR ACIDIC SPANISH RIVER --
NASA scientists visited Spain April 10 through 12, 2003, to search for drilling sites where later in the fall of 2003 they plan to look for exotic life forms that may live underground near the Rio Tinto, a river in southwestern Spain.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2003/03_24AR.html
Publication-size images are available at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2003/03images/tinto/tinto.html
Broadcast-quality sound files of interviews suitable for radio broadcast are at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/audio/tinto/tintoaudio.html