ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan researchers are members of both teams recently selected by NASA for an orbiting space mission to study Mars that is scheduled for 2011.

Faculty and staff from the U-M Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences are members of both scientific teams. The winning proposal, which is expected to be selected by the end of this year, could cost up to $475 million.

The mission will study Mars’ atmosphere, climate and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before.

The selected Mars mission proposals are:

? Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission (MAVEN): MAVEN would provide first-of-its-kind measurements and address key questions about Mars climate and habitability, and improve understanding of dynamic processes in the upper Martian atmosphere and ionosphere. Thomas Zurbuchen, AOSS associate professor, will build the pickup ion composition spectrometer (PICS) and Michael Liemohn, AOSS associate professor, will provide science support.

? The Great Escape (TGE) mission: TGE would directly determine the basic processes in Martian atmospheric evolution by measuring the structure and dynamics of the upper atmosphere. In addition, potentially biogenic atmospheric constituents such as methane would be measured. AOSS research professor Stephen Bougher will be the mission’s chief scientist and AOSS professor Andrew Nagy will be providing science support. Brian Gilchrist, EECS and AOSS professor, will be building an instrument for TGE.

Each Mars mission proposal receives initial funding of approximately $2 million to conduct a nine-month implementation feasibility study. Following that, NASA will select one of the two proposals for full development as a Mars scout mission.

“We’re excited that U-M is a partner on both proposals,” said Tamas Gombosi, AOSS department chair. “It’s nice to know that U-M will be heading to Mars again. It is a win-win situation for AOSS and its Space Physics Research Laboratory. Our big challenge is to keep the work on the two competing proposals completely separated and the competition fair.”

These selections were judged to have the best science value among 26 proposals submitted to NASA last year. NASA’s Mars Exploration Program seeks to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic system, including its present and past environment, climate cycles, geology and biological potential. The Mars Exploration Program Office is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for the Mars Exploration Program, Science Mission Directorate, Washington.