Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington                    May 29, 2002
(Phone: 202/358-1547)

RELEASE: 02-100

NASA SELECTS 28 PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS FOR MARS ROVER 
MISSION

     NASA has selected 28 scientists for participation in the 
2003 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission. The mission 
consists of two separate, though identical, rovers scheduled 
for launch in mid-2003 and arrival at separate destinations 
on Mars in early 2004.

The selected proposals were judged to have the best science 
value among 84 proposals submitted to NASA last December in 
response to the Mars Exploration Rover Announcement of 
Opportunity. Each selected investigation will work with the 
MER Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 
Pasadena, Calif., and will become full MER science-team 
members, joining previously selected scientists as part of 
the Athena science team.

"The breadth, scope, and creativity of the scientists 
selected is very encouraging," said Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA 
Associate Administrator for Space Science, Headquarters, 
Washington. "By directly participating in NASA's next mission 
to the surface of Mars, they will help bring us closer to the 
long-term objective of our Mars Exploration Program -- 
understanding Mars as a planet and determining whether life 
ever existed there."

The MER mission science objectives include: (1) study rocks 
and soils for clues to past water activity; (2) investigate 
landing sites that have a high probability of containing 
evidence of the action of liquid water; (3) determine the 
distribution and composition of minerals, rocks and soils 
surrounding the landing sites; (4) determine the nature of 
local surface geologic processes; (5) calibrate and validate 
data from orbiting missions at each landing site; and (6) 
study the geologic processes for clues about the 
environmental conditions that existed when liquid water was 
present, and whether those environments were conducive for 
life.
 
The selected investigators are:

* Johannes Brueckner; Max Planck Institut fur Chemie, Mainz, 
Germany; Investigation of elemental composition of Martian 
soils and their relationship to global surface chemistry
* Nathalie A. Cabrol; SETI Institute, Moffett Field, Calif.; 
Aqueous Sedimentary Processes at the MER sites
* Wendy M. Calvin; University of Nevada, Reno; Mini-TES 
investigation for surface mineralogy and surface/orbit 
constraints on TES
* Benton C. Clark; Lockheed Martin Corporation, Littleton, 
Colo.; Chemical Alteration Processes on Mars: Investigations 
and Implications
* Larry S. Crumpler; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and 
Science, Albuquerque; Field Geology and Micro-surface 
Characteristics at MER Investigation Sites
* Jack D. Farmer; Arizona State University, Tempe; Integrated 
Studies of Surface Geology and Mineralogy to Explore for Past 
Aqueous Environments
* William H. Farrand; Space Science Institute, Boulder, 
Colo.; Major and Minor Components of the Surface Layer of 
Mars: An Investigation Using the MER Pancam and Mini-TES
* William M. Folkner; JPL; Measurement of Mars Rotation 
Changes with the Mars Exploration Rovers
* Matthew P. Golombek; JPL; Directing Long Range Rover 
Traverses using Orbital Surface Predictions and MER Ground 
Truth
* John A. Grant; Smithsonian Institution, Washington; 
Constraining the Geologic Setting and Evolution of the MER 
Landing Site(s)
* Ronald Greeley; Arizona State University, Tempe; Mars 
Exploration Rover: Study of Aeolian Features and Processes
* John P. Grotzinger; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
Cambridge; Geological Analysis of Martian Sediments and 
Sedimentary Rocks
* Stubbe Hviid; Max Planck Institut fur Aeronomie, 
Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany; Investigation of the production 
and composition of Martian soils and dust and their effect 
upon the Martian atmosphere
* Jeffrey R. Johnson; U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, 
Ariz.; Spectrophotometric Observations of Surface Materials 
at the MER Landing Sites
* Geoffrey A. Landis; Ohio Aerospace Institute, Cleveland; 
Study of Solar Energy and Dust Accumulation on MER
* Mark T. Lemmon; Texas A & M University, College Station; 
Investigation of the properties of Martian atmospheric dust 
and its effect on the illumination of the Martian surface
* Rongxing Li; Ohio State University, Columbus; Surface 
Image-based High-precision Near Real-time Landing Site 
Mapping and Long-range Rover Localization for MER 2003 
mission
* Scott M. McLennan; State University of New York, Stony 
Brook; Sedimentary Petrology at the MER Sites
* Douglas W. Ming; NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston; 
Identification and Processes of Formation for 
Phyllosilicates, Sulfates, and Other Chemical Weathering 
Products on Mars
* Jeffrey E. Moersch; University of Tennessee, Knoxville; A 
Search for Aqueous Minerals with the Mars Exploration Rover 
Mini-TES Experiment
* Timothy J. Parker; JPL; Sedimentary Stratigraphy and 
Geomorphology of the MER A and B Landing Sites
* James W. Rice; Arizona State University, Tempe; MER 
Geomorphic and Sedimentological Investigations
* Lutz Richter; DLR Institut fur Raumsimulation, Koln, 
Germany; Mars Soil Mechanics Investigations Using MER Rover 
Locomotion System Engineering Data
* Michael D. Smith; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 
Greenbelt, Md.; Retrieval of Atmospheric Properties using 
mini-TES spectra
* Peter H. Smith; University of Arizona, Tucson; The dust 
cycle monitored from MER
* Robert Sullivan; Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.; Physical 
and Mechanical Properties of Martian Soils Along MER 
Traverses
* Michael J. Wolff; Space Science Institute, Martinez, Ga.; 
Aerosol Studies and the Boundary Layer: Things are Looking Up
* Albert S. Yen; JPL; Soil Formation without Liquid Water: An 
Assessment of the Meteoritic Contribution to the Martian 
Surface