# Whene Will NASA Send a Rover to Mar's North Pole? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 19, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723 "2013-12-19T14:29:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/1 "2013-12-19T14:29:00Z")
I think the NP is likely to be very interesting-what with water and ice around. is there a big technical challenge in doing this? Anyway, is there a plan to send one? When? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/2 "2013-12-19T14:57:57Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I think the NP is likely to be very interesting-what with water and ice around. is there a big technical challenge in doing this? Anyway, is there a plan to send one? When? Mars’ pole is not water ice. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/3 "2013-12-19T15:07:50Z")
The northern cap has a seasonal CO[sub]2[/sub] cap with an [underlying water cap](http://spaceref.com/onorbit/radar-map-of-buried-mars-layers-matches-climate-cycles.html) NASA did send [Mars Polar Lander](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Polar_Lander) back in 1999 but the lander failed. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/4 "2013-12-19T15:16:57Z")
If you’ve ever taken an excurson on an earth glacier, you would find it’s considered very risky. There’s the problem that melts and runs (or in the case of Mars, sublimation) could cause crevasses and viods to fall into. Plus, there could be very soft spots in a snow/ice concoction that accumulates in the winter. One of the rovers became stuck in a few inches of sand. Also, the current rovers run off solar panels - if you go in the summer, the risk is higher for the voids mentioned above, and if you go in the winter - no sun for solar power. Plus, any time of year your vehicle’s solar panels could have a problem with snow buildup or frost limiting the effectiveness of the panels. Not saying they won’t, but there are details to be studied and worked out first. Meanwhile, the focus is on looking for signs of current or past life, which includes flowing water. hence the focus on the areas closer to the equator… plus they try to select areas that minimize the travel challenges. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/5 "2013-12-19T15:55:37Z")
There was also the [Phoenix lander](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_lander) in 2008. It landed successfully and worked for several moths before we lost communication with it. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/6 "2013-12-19T16:26:37Z")
“…Alas for NASA’s greatest probe, a rover Not after NASA’s heart! I needs must break This code that so defames me: not without They will it: would I, if they willed it? nay, Who knows? but if I would not, then may God, I pray him, send a sudden Angel down To seize me by the wheel and bear me far, And fling me deep in that north-polar Mar, Among the tumbled fragments of the hills.” ---
**Author:** ![jk1985](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jk1985/32/7309_2.png) [@jk1985](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1985)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/7 "2013-12-19T16:28:32Z")
it will probably take them at least 50 years. NASA moves slower than a snail these days. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/8 "2013-12-19T16:42:29Z")
Well that would explain [Maven](http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/present/maven/)arriving at Mars in 2014, [Hew Horizons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons) passing Pluto in 2015, [InSight](http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/future/insight/) planned for 2016, [Juno](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft))showing up at Jupiter in 2016, and the ongoing Messenger probe at Mercury. Mind you those are just the ones off the top of my head. Add in the aeronautical works, Earth science and cool things like [Morpheus](http://morpheuslander.jsc.nasa.gov/) and it makes you wonder what the hell they’re doing over there in when they’re not firing pencils into ceiling tiles. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/9 "2013-12-19T17:58:03Z")
> [@jk1985](#): > > it will probably take them at least 50 years. NASA moves slower than a snail these days. While NASA has (still does?) some serious management issues, how fast they move is depended on funding, which comes from Congress. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/10 "2013-12-19T18:27:49Z")
> [@jk1985](#): > > it will probably take them at least 50 years. NASA moves slower than a snail these days. MSL (Curiosity) took 7 years from funding start to launch. Which isn’t particularly long compared to NASA’s earlier missions. Of course some missions take many years before they are funded. I know scientists who spent over 10 years trying to get their idea funded. The planning for the Hubble Space Telescope [stretch back to 1968](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_space_telescope#Conception.2C_design_and_aims) (and longer if you consider earlier ideas and concepts), and finally launched in 1990. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whene-will-nasa-send-a-rover-to-mars-north-pole/676723/11 "2013-12-19T18:36:14Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Also, the current rovers run off solar panels - if you go in the summer, the risk is higher for the voids mentioned above, and if you go in the winter - no sun for solar power. The RTG (radioisotope thermoelectric generator) is the way to handle this; Curiosity uses it, as well as probes sent to the outer solar system. But it needs Plutonium-238, which is a different isotope than is used for nuclear weapons. Because of its limited use, the US stopped making it some time ago, very little remains. The US will resume production of Pu-238 in very small quantities, but it’ll probably be many years before anynew RTG-powered mission will be selected.