The selected proposals were judged to have the best science value among 84 proposals submitted to NASA last December in response to the Mars Exploration Rover Announcement of Opportunity. Each selected investigation will work with the MER Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., and will become full MER science-team members, joining previously selected scientists as part of the Athena science team.

"The breadth, scope, and creativity of the scientists selected is very encouraging," said Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science, Headquarters, Washington. "By directly participating in NASA's next mission to the surface of Mars, they will help bring us closer to the long-term objective of our Mars Exploration Program -- understanding Mars as a planet and determining whether life ever existed there."

The MER mission science objectives include:

(1) study rocks and soils for clues to past water activity;
(2) investigate landing sites that have a high probability of containing evidence of the action of liquid water;
(3) determine the distribution and composition of minerals, rocks and soils surrounding the landing sites;
(4) determine the nature of local surface geologic processes;
(5) calibrate and validate data from orbiting missions at each landing site; and
(6) study the geologic processes for clues about the environmental conditions that existed when liquid water was present, and whether those environments were conducive for life.

* Rongxing Li; Ohio State University, Columbus; Surface Image-based High-precision Near Real-time Landing Site Mapping and Long-range Rover Localization for MER 2003 mission