This month´s covers ...

The safety of potential landing sites is without question the single-most important factor in NASA landed exploration missions, for the simple reason that there will be no science return if the spacecraft does not land safely. The current practice for safe landing site selection on Mars is based on the human visual examination of prior aerial images of candidate landing sites obtained by orbiters. For example, in the Mars Exploration Rover (MIER) mission, the landing site selection process was driven by science return and safety constraints.