A PALEO-LANDSCAPE THAT PRESERVES EVIDENCE OF LIQUID WATER AND (OR) ICE IS THE MOST UNAMBIGUOUS MARKER OF A WATER-RICH PAST CLIMATE. WE PROPOSE TO COMPLETE THE FIRST SYSTEMATIC GLOBAL SURVEY OF FRESH SHALLOW VALLEYS (FSVS) AND "POLLYWOG" CRATERS ON MARS. THIS INVENTORY WILL BE A POWERFUL RESOURCE FOR OTHER SCIENTISTS AND CLIMATE MODELERS TO INCORPORATE INTO FUTURE RESEARCH THAT WILL ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE HYDROLOGIC AND CLIMATIC EVOLUTION OF THE PLANET. THIS PROPOSAL WILL PROVIDE CRITICAL INPUTS TO HELP DECIPHER THE POTENTIAL LATE-STAGE HABITABILITY OF MARS. OUR PROPOSAL IS RELEVANT TO THE MARS DATA ANALYSIS PROGRAM BECAUSE THE ANALYSES AND RESULTS USE A VARIETY OF DATASETS THAT WILL ENHANCE THE SCIENCE RETURN FROM SEVERAL ORBITAL MISSIONS AND HAS THE GOAL OF CONSTRAINING POTENTIALLY HABITABLE PALEO-ENVIRONMENTS.
$163,791FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC