Planetary Exploration Analogue Mission

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 5
• Convenor: Professor Hilary Downes
• Assessment: a 5000-word report (80% each) and press release (20%)

During this module you will organise a virtual rover mission to a planetary surface analogue. You will work together as a team of 'mission scientists' to decide on the aims of the mission, the nature of the instrumentation required and to deal with the constraints of time, fuel and data upload. You will then undertake the mission over six weeks, directing the rover to visit localities on the surface of a planetary analogue. You will then write up your own account of the mission and its accomplishments for the 'funding agency', and write a press release for the general public.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of planning and designing a rover mission
• undertake the mission using an analogue of a planetary surface
• obtain and interpret data from a planetary surface
• report the results to science funders and the general public.