Mars Exploration Program  I created this mural several years ago to portray the current program at that time.

The Mars program is designed to follow up on new discoveries, or put another way, it is "discovery-driven". That means it is impossible to say right now exactly what type of mission should be flown for 2011 and beyond. Mars scientists are going to see what the current missions discover before recommending what should come next. A good example is the extensive amount of ice that Mars Odyssey discovered on Mars. The decision was made to follow up that with a 2007 lander named Phoenix that is capable of digging into the ice near the North Pole and directly analysing it. Mars missions take years to prepare so a decision has to be made about 4 years or so before the launch opportunity. That means that JPL is kept busy preparing many different options, all of which require years of technology development and mission planning. In January, 2007 NASA HQ selected two candidate Mars Scout proposals: "MAVEN" and "The Great Escape". See also "NASA Selects Proposals For Future Mars Missions And Studies"   Sample return and subsurface access are part of the future Mars program   Future missions might include a 2013 Mars Science Orbiter (MSO). Another possibility for the next decade is an Astrobiology Field Laboratory rover followed by a Deep Drill Lander. A new landing technique is being developed for some of the next decades missions which would use a skycrane. It is expected that there will be more Mars Scouts every four years. We are going through a revision of the "Mars mission timeline" because of the need to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars and beyond. JPL is certainly in the midst of it all and I am, too. So much change is going on around me that it's been almost overwhelming until I remember that the program has always been evolving and always will .......that's just the nature of the exploration business. Expect the unexpected and be prepared to take advantage of it!

"Still on Mars" after all these years

Corby Waste, JPL Mars artist looking to the future of 2011 and beyond

Above is a link to a 2004 video that explains the future of the robotic Mars program. It includes several of my "Next Decade" mission images.

NASA HQ has made several Mars Exploration Program Presentations available online. They are the real thing, in other words, the same presentations that have been used by NASA when giving various presentations to the public, etc. or inside NASA as well. I consider these to be the gemstones of my JPL career because they feature so many of my images. Practically all the spacecraft shown were created by me, in many cases, with the exception of the MER rovers. It's really a thrill to look at the timelines and realise that's basically all mine!

   Mars Cryobot Lander

A lander on the polar ice would deploy a "cryobot" straight down through the inside of the lander. The cryobot would then melt it's way down through the ice and perform science investigations.

The Dec. 2002 issue of Nuclear News has my artwork on the cover. It features a proposed nuclear reactor- powered Mars Cryobot lander near the North Pole of Mars. Nuclear News is published by the American Nuclear Society.