Events & Courses

With its distinctive red glow and being the third brightest object in the night sky, Mars has fascinated and intrigued mankind since prehistoric times.

Early observations suggested the presence of canals, promoting the thought that there was once water on the planet. This inspired the idea that perhaps the planet may have been, and possibly still might be, able to support some form of life.

Since the early 1960s there have been 55 missions to Mars with only 44% being successful, and just seven are currently operational. Despite this, a vast amount of data has been acquired, using instrumented and motorised rovers, allowing the geology and terrain of Mars to be studied.  

Tonight, our speaker Dr Marcus Matthews will look at some of the more detailed and interesting aspects of Martian geology and geomorphology as well as the challenges the Martian regolith poses to rover design. Marcus was part of a team at the University of Surrey that developed a package of instruments to be mounted on a small scout rover that could assess trafficability of the ground ahead of a much larger mother rover as part of an FP7 EU sponsored research project.

Time

6.00pm for 6.30pm start

Venue

The Bell Inn, Godstone, Surrey  RH9 8DX