The geology of Mars and the rover missions

given by Dr Susanne Schwenzer (Open University).

Dr Susanne P Schwenzer is a planetary scientist, who has researched Mars geology, petrology and mineralogy since her PhD. In her talk, she will tell the story of Mars as seen from its rocks: First, there was a (warm?) and wet Mars that saw rivers flowing and lakes forming. At the same time, a period of intense impact cratering shaped the Martian landscape, with its own effects on the mineralogy in the subsurface of the planet. About 4.2 Billion years ago, the Martian climate changed to much dryer conditions, and it remained that way to this day. Most of the evidence for the Martian geologic record comes from orbiters, but landers and rovers have most recently contributed hugely important details that in turn make it possible to interpret the global picture. The talk will briefly discuss several of those missions, especially the Curiosity rover mission and its most important findings.

View this talk in the Members’ Section.