Rethinking Planetary Exploration

Interdisciplinary Scientists Propose Paradigm Shift in Robotic Space Exploration, California Institute of Technology

“Just ask any geologist. If you’re studying the history of a planet and the life forms that may have lived on it, the really good places to look are rugged terrains like canyons and other areas where water, igneous activity, wind, and seismic rumblings have left their respective marks. Flat is not so good.”

Future Smart Robotic Space Missions Will Be Multi-tiered, Researchers Say, University of Arizona

“Remote-sensing orbiters, probes, landers and rovers are returning astonishing discoveries about our solar system. But some of the most exciting geological and potentially astrobiological places in our family of planets and moons are dangerous and difficult to explore.”